Ratusan Warga Negara Australia Tinggalkan Bali
Special Repatriation Flight Takes Australians Home from Bali
Editor : Kemal A Praghotsa
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
RATUSAN warga negara Australia meninggalkan Bali menuju negaranya, melalui Bandara Internasional I Gusti Ngurah Rai menggunakan pesawat Qantas Airways, pada Rabu, [18/8].
"Penerbangan Qantas ini khusus ditugaskan untuk pemulangan warga negara Australia yang akan membawanya ke Darwin," kata Stakeholder Relation Manager PT Angkasa Pura I [Persero] Bandara I Gusti Ngurah Rai, Taufan Yudhistira kepada Associated Press.
Menurutnya, pesawat itu terbang kosong dari Sydney ke Bali, dan lepas landas ke Darwin dengan membawa 186 orang di dalamnya; termasuk petugas atau kru pesawat.
Seorang penumpang, Ian Young mengatakan akan kembali ke Bali setelah melihat keluarganya di Melbourne.
"Saya hanya akan melihat keluarga saya yang sudah lama tidak bertemu dan kembali ke Bali segera," katanya.
Konsulat Jenderal Australia di Bali mengatakan pemerintah Australia bekerja sama dengan pihak berwenang Indonesia untuk mengatur penerbangan bagi orang-orang yang pesawatnya dibatalkan atau yang opsi transitnya tidak lagi tersedia.
Dikatakan Australia terus mencari cara untuk mendukung warganya yang ingin kembali ke Australia.
Indonesia saat ini tengah berjuang melawan pandemi Covid-19 usai lonjakan selama liburan Idul Fitri di bulan Mei lalu dan penyebaran varian delta yang sangat menular. Indonesia telah mencatat lebih dari 3,8 juta kasus, termasuk lebih dari 120.000 kematian akibat Covid-19, seperti dikutip Associated Press yang dilansir MailOnline.
MORE THAN a hundred Australian citizens left the Indonesian tourist island of Bali on Wednesday aboard a special repatriation flight organized by the Australian government.
Many Australians have been stranded on Bali because flights connecting Indonesia to Australia have been limited since the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia.
"This Qantas flight is assigned for Australian citizen repatriation which will take it to Darwin," airport public relations manager Taufan Yudhistira said Wednesday.
The plane flew empty from Sydney to Denpasar, Bali's capital, and took off for Darwin on Wednesday afternoon with 186 people on board, including infants and crew, Yudhistira said.
Ian Young, a passenger, said he will return to Bali after seeing his family in Melbourne.
"I have not been able to see my family," he said. "I'll just see my family and come back to Bali quickly."
The Australian Consulate General in Bali said the Australian government worked in partnership with Indonesian authorities to arrange the flight for people whose planes have been canceled or whose transit options are no longer available.
It said Australia is continuing to explore ways to support Australians who want to return home.
Indonesia has been hit hard by the coronavirus, fueled by travel during the Eid holiday in May and the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. It has recorded more than 3.8 million cases, including more than 120,000 deaths.
The surge has prompted new lockdown measures since July, particularly on Java, Indonesia´s most populated island, and on Bali.
