Qantas reopens international flight bookings from July 2021
Qantas has reopened bookings for international flights from July this year.
The Australian airline has been grounded for months by suspending bookings to London and the United States until October, but has now scheduled flights to these destinations from July, as the global vaccination drive accelerates.
However, services to Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan that were set to resume in March have now been pushed back to July 1, as the prospect of establishing COVID-safe "travel bubbles" with those countries evaporates.
The Australian airline has been grounded for months by suspending bookings to London and the United States until October, but has now scheduled flights to these destinations from July, as the global vaccination drive accelerates.
However, services to Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan that were set to resume in March have now been pushed back to July 1, as the prospect of establishing COVID-safe "travel bubbles" with those countries evaporates.
Vaccine rollout
Prime Minister Scott Morrison indicated on Tuesday that Australia will be sticking to its COVID vaccine rollout timetable to avoid taking any unnecessary risks.
The federal government is facing questions about why vaccines it has ordered have not yet been given regulatory approval and rolled out, despite them being used overseas.
Morrison said the vaccines were being used in emergency situations overseas and a number of countries were reporting “quite a few problems” with the rollout.
“We have our scheduled timetable,” Morrison told 3AW radio on Tuesday.
We are moving as swiftly and safely as can be done. “Australia is not in an emergency situation ... so we don’t have to take unnecessary risks.” The first vaccines are expected to be approved later this month, with the prime minister saying Australia would be “well into the vaccine” in the first quarter of the year.
He said it was important all Australians had “total confidence” in the vaccines.
The federal government is facing questions about why vaccines it has ordered have not yet been given regulatory approval and rolled out, despite them being used overseas.
Morrison said the vaccines were being used in emergency situations overseas and a number of countries were reporting “quite a few problems” with the rollout.
“We have our scheduled timetable,” Morrison told 3AW radio on Tuesday.
We are moving as swiftly and safely as can be done. “Australia is not in an emergency situation ... so we don’t have to take unnecessary risks.” The first vaccines are expected to be approved later this month, with the prime minister saying Australia would be “well into the vaccine” in the first quarter of the year.
He said it was important all Australians had “total confidence” in the vaccines.
Qantas boss Alan Joyce has said that a vaccine would be necessary for quarantine-free travel to resume to destinations like the US and UK, which are both experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections, and that proof of immunisation will be a condition of travel.
New Zealand is the only international destination Qantas is currently flying to, after Australia reopened its border to travellers coming across the Tasman in a "one-way bubble".
Even when the airline restarts long-haul flying it will be at a significantly reduced capacity after mothballing its fleet of 12 Airbus A380s super-jumbos in deep storage until at least 2023.
New Zealand is the only international destination Qantas is currently flying to, after Australia reopened its border to travellers coming across the Tasman in a "one-way bubble".
Even when the airline restarts long-haul flying it will be at a significantly reduced capacity after mothballing its fleet of 12 Airbus A380s super-jumbos in deep storage until at least 2023.