Qantas has activated special fare waivers for passengers booked to or from Learmonth after Tropical Cyclone Narelle damaged airport infrastructure and road access across Western Australia’s Gascoyne coast. A notice on the airline’s travel-updates page stamped 11:50 am AWST, 18 April 2026, allows customers holding tickets issued on or before 30 March for travel between 19 March and 3 May to choose a fee-free refund, flight credit or date change. Learmonth – gateway to the Exmouth and Ningaloo tourism region and a key fly-in/fly-out hub for offshore energy projects – has been closed intermittently since mid-March. With the cyclone’s remnants still causing supply-chain disruptions, mining operators have begun rerouting essential personnel through Karratha or charter services. Travel-management companies say corporates must re-authorise changed routings in their online booking tools to ensure duty-of-care tracking remains accurate. The policy mirrors similar flexibility Qantas introduced for Cairns, Weipa and Port Hedland earlier in the season, underscoring how extreme-weather events are now baked into Australian domestic mobility planning. Insurers remind business travellers that airline waivers do not automatically extend hotel or hire-car contracts; assignees should reconfirm land arrangements before departing. Looking ahead, Exmouth Shire officials expect Learmonth’s terminal to reopen for limited turboprop services within a week, but wide-body capacity will depend on a runway inspection scheduled for 22 April. Companies with project cargo booked on passenger flights are advised to explore sea-freight alternatives until the assessment is complete.
Source: Qantas Travel Updates
