Australia Post charters freight aircraft to deliver backlog of parcels to WA in time for Christmas

Geoffrey ThomasThe West Australian
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Camera IconSanta Claus will deliver gifts to WA thanks to a chartered flight full of presents. Credit: Richard Kreider/The West Australian

Fears that Santa Claus may not be able to deliver gifts to WA have been eased, with a flight laden with more than 70,000 parcels touching down in Perth.

Australia Post was forced to charter the giant Atlas Air Boeing 747-400 freighter from Qantas, which landed on Monday night, to cope with a surge in online buying and limited capacity because of a reduction in flights from the Eastern States.

Prior to COVID, Qantas operated 16 Airbus A330s a day between Sydney, Melbourne and Perth but many of the flights have been replaced with smaller 737s, slashing cargo capacity.

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Qantas has been using Atlas Air 747s for freight work since 2004 and recently extended the partnership to include a third aircraft.

Atlas Air provides the crews for the freighters , which typically operate from Australia to the US via China.

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