Qantas to resume international flights earlier than planned

Following an announcement by the Australian Government that Australia’s international borders would open for unrestricted travel by November 2021. Qantas has today brought forward its date for the resumption of international passenger flights into and out of Australia.

In addition to the relaxation of international travel, the Australian Government has also lifted its controversial passenger arrival cap policy, which capped the number of passengers arriving into Australia during the pandemic. This ultimately means that airlines operating to and from Australia can fill their aircraft to capacity once again, something not seen since April 2020.

Despite the good news today, there is a still a minor clause in the relaxation of international travel restrictions. For now, only Australian citizens and permanent residents who are fully vaccinated with a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved vaccine can travel into and out of Australia unrestricted.

Any passengers arriving back into Australia must also complete seven days of home quarantine. However, this is still a significant improvement in comparison to current travel ban, which currently mandates that returning travellers must complete 14 days of hotel quarantine upon entry into Australia.

In response to today’s news, Australian flag carrier Qantas has announced it will bring forward the resumption of international passenger flights out of its hub in Sydney from the 18th of December to November 14th. From this date, Qantas will recommence flights from Sydney to Los Angeles and London-Heathrow. However, it is still unclear at this stage where the stopover on the way to London-Heathrow will occur, but it will likely be either Singapore-Changi or Perth, Australia. Qantas did not mention which of the two options would be utilised when flights resumed.

Both the flights to London-Heathrow and Los Angeles will initially run at a three-times-weekly frequency using the airline’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Qantas also stated that its is planning to increase each route to a daily service from the 18th of December..

In a company statement, Qantas stated that all other international flights that are scheduled to resume on the 18th of December will do so as planned and stated in the previous press release in September that the airline does have the ability to add additional flights to other destinations as required.

According to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, “the early reopening of Australia’s borders will mean so much to so many people and has been made possible by the amazing ramp-up of Australia’s vaccine rollout.” Joyce also stated that demand is very strong for international flights in December and some flights listed for sale have already sold out

Source: https://aeronewsx.com/qantas-to-resume-international-flights-earlier-than-planned/