Australians Take A$2,100 Cab Rides
Qantas Airways planned to halt domestic Sydney flights until at least 2 p.m., flights serving Melbourne until 11 a.m. and all New Zealand routes from 7 a.m., according to an update late yesterday on its website. The airline canceled at least 200 flights yesterday, affecting more than 20,000 passengers.
“We are packed to the rafters,” said Michael Fish, a spokesman for the Hyatt Hotel Canberra. ‘We have had some who can’t leave, some who have been stranded and some who haven’t arrived.’’
Services may also be affected tomorrow, said Qantas, some of whose executives drove the about 290 kilometers (180 miles) to Canberra from its Sydney head office yesterday because of flight cancellations. The ash is disrupting operations in Australia for a second week after being blown one-and-a-half times round the world from a volcano in Chile.
Aerial Capital Group Pty., which has 300 taxis and limousines, sent five cars to Melbourne from Canberra, a journey of about 650 kilometers. The fares, negotiated with drivers, cost as much as A$2,100, Operations Manager Shane Stephens said by phone.
“I’d never had anyone who wanted us to drive them to Melbourne,” said Stephens, who has worked for the Canberra- based company for 10 years. “We are completely booked out.”
