Jetstar chief executive Gareth Evans has refused to apologise for a safety breach where passengers on a Melbourne-to-Sydney flight disembarked without screening for COVID-19 symptoms.

He also said the incident, which triggered the review of policies in its wake, was not similar to the Ruby Princess debacle that dogged NSW authorities in the early stages of the crisis.

“It’s a completely different set of circumstances,” Mr Evans said at a press conference in Sydney.

“Passengers here were screened, and I think it is important to understand what the screening process is – it is a temperature check, it’s a health questionnaire and its identity check.”

The flight, coded JQ520, landed at Sydney Airport late on Tuesday night. Contrary to agreed protocols between airlines and NSW Health, about 137 passengers were allowed to leave the plane when health staff, preoccupied with checking passengers on a Virgin Australia flight that had landed moments earlier, were not present.

NSW Health said that with help from airport staff and police they had tracked down two-thirds – 89 – of the passengers to screen and clear them before they were able to leave Sydney Airport.

The remaining 48 passengers had already left the airport; however, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said they had since been tested or were in the process of being tested.

“I can confirm that all members of the people who arrived, the passengers on that flight, were contacted and tested, except for five that are being tested today,” Ms Berejiklian said on Thursday.

“All of the follow-up action has occurred, and I’m pleased to say that five, the final five, are being tested today.”

NSW Health said all passengers on the plane had faced testing before leaving Victoria, which is experiencing a second coronavirus outbreak and has subsequently seen its border with NSW closed.

Mr Evans characterised the testing at Sydney Airport as a “double-check”, and did not apologise for the incident, despite officials laying the blame at the budget airline’s door.

“The situation is changing rapidly, and there are protocols that we’re working together on – there was not a NSW health official in the aerobridge,” the Jetstar boss said.

“They should have been there; we should have held the aircraft.

“We wish that it had been different, but it’s a dynamic environment where the rules are changing. There’s not actually a formal protocol – it’s a list of requirements and those are changing, and what actually I think would be a big positive is an alignment across states and territories.”

NSW Health did not answer questions about whether it believed Jetstar should apologise.

Mr Evans also attempted to hose down comparisons to the Ruby Princess episode, when thousands of cruise ship passengers were let loose in Sydney while some were still awaiting COVID-19 test results.

That event, which occurred in March, was responsible for at least 20 coronavirus-related deaths.

“It is a completely different set of circumstances, a completely different risk profile,” Mr Evans said.

Even so, it has forced a change to protocol at Sydney Airport, with planes now not docked with a gate until health officials are ready and waiting.

The NSW-Victoria border was closed on Wednesday, with hefty fines for those breaking strict rules about crossing it.

Jetstar’s parent company, Qantas, said both brands were significantly reducing their flights between Sydney and Melbourne as a result.

This story originally appeared in the Australian Financial Review. Read the original story here.

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