By Zoe Moffatt

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park remains closed and planes from hotspots will not be allowed to land in Yulara following a blockade by locals after a Jetstar flight from Brisbane landed on Monday, an Aboriginal Corporation head has said.

The Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation blockaded the entry to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park on Monday amid coronavirus fears following passengers from the hotspot of Brisbane landing at the Ayers Rock Airport, Yulara.

Chief executive officer Thalia Bohl-van den Boogaard said she was “incredibly disappointed” the flight landed.

“[We were] all under the assumption that there was no plane [coming] directly from a hotspot… and so, that plane landing was absolutely insane,” she said on Mix 104.9.

Three of the 42 passengers are in mandatory quarantine in Alice Springs, and 39 people are in Yulara, Ms Bohl-van den Boogaard said. It is possible that only three people are in quarantine because they were the only passengers who were Brisbane or Logan residents, with the rest coming from other non-hotspot parts of Queensland but who flew out of Brisbane Airport, which is considered a quarantine area.

“At the moment, nobody can enter the park, whether they came from that flight or they arrived as other tourists by car,” Ms Bohl-van den Boogaard said. “Nobody can enter the park until those 39, including the three in Alice Springs have been tested and returned negative tests.”

The blockade started following Parks Australia’s refusal to temporarily close the park the corporation’s general manager, Glenn Irvine told the ABC.

In a statement Parks Australia said “the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park will remain closed while re-opening protocols proposed by MCAC are considered”. Parks Australia had originally closed the park on Monday until midday Tuesday but have now extended the closure.

Flights from non-hotspot areas are still allowed to arrive in Yulara but no more flights are due to arrive this week as the scheduled flights were from Brisbane, Ms Bohl-van den Boogaard said.

“We’re happy that there are no flights coming from [a] hotspot and I know that Voyages has a resort to run and we appreciate that but ultimately the safety and well-being of the people” come first, she said.

Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, owned by Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation – a corporate Commonwealth entity established under the ATSI Act – runs the Ayers Rock Resort.

Ms Bohl-van den Boogaard said the general feeling was it was the responsibility of those tourists who lived in hotspots who had been in contact with people with coronavirus to stay away.

Attorney General Natasha Fyles said to Mix 104.9 on Tuesday, “we would prefer that flights went into Alice Springs, but… this is something that’s not within our realm”.

“We’re doing what we can do and we certainly respect the voice of the local community.”

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is 450 km from Alice Springs and the entry is roughly a ten-minute drive from the town of Yulara. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is a dual World Heritage-listed park and is home to Uluru.