Menzies ground handlers recently welcomed holiday-makers safely back to Melbourne after there was a coronavirus outbreak onboard their cruise ship which was doing a tour of the Antarctic.

The repatriation flight was organised by the Australian and New Zealand governments to bring their citizens home to dry land. After 16 hours’ flying time, the specially-commissioned flight landed in Melbourne on 12^th April and passengers (81 of whom were tested positive) were assessed by emergency doctors before being taken to quarantine hotels.

Menzies handled both the inbound flight from Uruguay and assisted with transfer of a small number of passengers onto a charter flight onward to New Zealand. Chris Duffield, VP Ground Handling said; “It was a great effort by all staff involved. They willingly came into work over the Easter Break, making their services available so we could handle such a sensitive and complex charter operation.”