The Qantas Group has unveiled more details on preparations for restarting its international flights by the end of this year, with plans linked to the vaccine rollout in Australia and key overseas markets.
The plans are based on the projection that Australia will reach the National Cabinet’s ‘Phase C’ vaccination threshold of 80 per cent in December, which would trigger the gradual reopening of international borders.
Qantas’ gradual restart is planned around the National Cabinet’s phased reopening of international borders
As such, Qantas and Jetstar are now preparing for potential travel resumption with key markets like the UK, North America and parts of Asia which also have high and increasing levels of vaccination, making them highly likely to be classed as low-risk countries for vaccinated travellers to visit and return from under reduced quarantine requirements.
Flights to destinations that still have low vaccination rates and high levels of Covid infection will now be pushed out from December 2021 until April 2022 – including Bali, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City and Johannesburg.
Assuming current projections hold and the 80 per cent vaccine threshold is met in December, Qantas and Jetstar plan to trigger a gradual restart.
From mid-December, flights would start from Australia to low-risk destinations, which are likely to include Singapore, the US, Japan, the UK, and Canada using Boeing 787s and Airbus A330s. Services to Fiji will be operated using Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s.
Flights between Australia and New Zealand will be on sale for travel from mid-December, on the assumption some or all parts of the two-way bubble restart.
Qantas’ ability to fly non-stop between Australia and London is expected to be in even higher demand post-Covid. The airline is investigating using Darwin as a transit point as an alternative (or in addition) to its existing Perth hub given conservative border policies in Western Australia.
Five A380s will return to service ahead of schedule. These would fly between Sydney and LA from July 2022, and between Sydney and London (via Singapore) from November 2022.
Qantas will extend the range of its A330-200 aircraft to operate some trans-Pacific routes such as Brisbane-Los Angeles and Brisbane-San Francisco.
Flights to Hong Kong will restart in February and the rest of the Qantas and Jetstar international network is planned to open up from April 2022, with capacity increasing gradually.
The Qantas Group has unveiled more details on preparations for restarting its international flights by the end of this year, with plans linked to the vaccine rollout in Australia and key overseas markets.
The plans are based on the projection that Australia will reach the National Cabinet’s ‘Phase C’ vaccination threshold of 80 per cent in December, which would trigger the gradual reopening of international borders.
As such, Qantas and Jetstar are now preparing for potential travel resumption with key markets like the UK, North America and parts of Asia which also have high and increasing levels of vaccination, making them highly likely to be classed as low-risk countries for vaccinated travellers to visit and return from under reduced quarantine requirements.
Flights to destinations that still have low vaccination rates and high levels of Covid infection will now be pushed out from December 2021 until April 2022 – including Bali, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City and Johannesburg.
Assuming current projections hold and the 80 per cent vaccine threshold is met in December, Qantas and Jetstar plan to trigger a gradual restart.
From mid-December, flights would start from Australia to low-risk destinations, which are likely to include Singapore, the US, Japan, the UK, and Canada using Boeing 787s and Airbus A330s. Services to Fiji will be operated using Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s.
Flights between Australia and New Zealand will be on sale for travel from mid-December, on the assumption some or all parts of the two-way bubble restart.
Qantas’ ability to fly non-stop between Australia and London is expected to be in even higher demand post-Covid. The airline is investigating using Darwin as a transit point as an alternative (or in addition) to its existing Perth hub given conservative border policies in Western Australia.
Five A380s will return to service ahead of schedule. These would fly between Sydney and LA from July 2022, and between Sydney and London (via Singapore) from November 2022.
Qantas will extend the range of its A330-200 aircraft to operate some trans-Pacific routes such as Brisbane-Los Angeles and Brisbane-San Francisco.
Flights to Hong Kong will restart in February and the rest of the Qantas and Jetstar international network is planned to open up from April 2022, with capacity increasing gradually.