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On Saturday, Qantas had to cancel a scheduled flight from Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) to Perth Airport (PER) and onwards to Melbourne (MEL). While cancelations are a rare but unavoidable part of modern commercial aviation and can arise for various reasons, the circumstances surrounding this particular shelving were more unusual than most. Specifically, this was caused by a bedbug outbreak.
The outbreak was first identified on the aircraft’s inbound flight to Rome, with the sector from Perth having taken 16.5 hours and been operated by a 
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner widebody twinjet. During the flight, passengers began to complain of bites from the bugs, but Qantas soon ran out of antihistamines to ease their irritation. Qantas opted to cancel the next flight in favor of a much-needed deep clean.
The Outbreak Was Identified On The Flight To Italy
Qantas flight QF5 is a daily scheduled service from Melbourne to Rome via Perth, with its second leg being a rare example of a nonstop service between Australia and Europe. According to tracking data from Flightradar24, Friday’s iteration of the flight arrived in Rome more than an hour late, touching down at 7:33 AM on Saturday, October 10. Its usual arrival into the Italian capital city is timed for 6:15 AM.
While delays are one thing, cancelations are another, and, as reported by the BBC, Qantas had to axe the return leg from Rome back to Perth and Melbourne (QF6) due to a bedbug outbreak on VH-ZNI, the Boeing 787 operating the flight. This became clear on the flight to Rome when passengers complained of bites: they were given antihistamines, but supplies soon ran out. A Qantas spokesperson said:
“The cancellation of Saturday’s Rome to Perth service allowed our engineers and maintenance teams to carry out a deep clean of the aircraft after an issue was identified on a small number of economy seats.”
Passengers Were Rebooked As The Aircraft Repositioned Back To Australia
Qantas flight QF6 is normally scheduled to depart from Rome at 10:45 AM local time. As such, given the delayed arrival of the flight from Perth, the airline would have had just over three hours to turn the aircraft around. However, such was the nature of the outbreak that a longer grounding was required. This ensured that staff on the ground could carry out the necessary deep cleaning treatment on board.
For Qantas, this meant rebooking the passengers who were booked on the canceled QF6 service. While the exact numbers are not known, the airline’s website notes that its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners can seat up to 236 passengers across three different classes of travel. In any case, The Guardian notes that Qantas was able to rebook passengers on flights within 48 hours, as well as providing hotel rooms.
Further coverage by The Guardian notes that it is most likely that a passenger’s luggage or clothes acted as the inadvertent vessel that granted the bedbugs access to the Boeing 787. VH-ZNI eventually left Rome at 2:02 PM on October 10 under the ferry flight number QF7006, reaching Perth at 11:06 AM the next day. It then continued to Sydney as QF6007, and has since re-entered regular service.
Bedbug Outbreaks Are Rare In Aviation, But Not Unheard Of
While bedbug outbreaks are a very rare phenomenon in the world of modern commercial aviation, this is not the first time in recent years that an airline has made the headlines for this reason. As reported by Simple Flying at the time, Turkish Airlines found itself in hot water in January of 2025, when passenger reports of bedbugs on several of the carrier’s flights surfaced, backed up by photos of their bites.
A little longer ago, the BBC reported back in October of 2017 that British Airways had apologized to a Canadian family after they were bitten by bedbugs while flying with the UK flag carrier and oneworld founding member from Vancouver (YVR) to London (LHR). While the family spotted the bugs, the cabin crew said that they could not change seats due to the flight being sold out, leaving them as sitting ducks.
