Unrestricted international travel to return to Queensland within days

Queenslanders will dust-off their passports within days following two years of pent-up demand for international travel with the state set to hit a key vaccination milestone.

Queenslanders will dust-off their passports within days following two years of pent-up demand for international travel.

From next week international travel to and from Queensland will be unrestricted, with no quarantine required once the state reaches 90 per cent double vaccination.

Flight Centre Managing Director Graham Turner anticipated a significant uplift in global travel bookings from Queensland and said the removal of restrictions signalled the “beginning of the end” of the pandemic.

“As soon as New South Wales and Victoria opened we saw a huge pick up in demand,” he said.

“The only dampener now has been Omicron because it’s far more widespread than Delta ever was.

“If that dies down you’ll see a pick up from Queensland.

“As soon as the peak is reached and people see it’s coming back to normal that’s when people will be booking for April, May and June – I’m pretty optimistic.”

Mr Turner said there was a growing appetite for life to return to normal and declared the Omicron variant, less deadly than Delta, was “the best thing since slight bread”.

“I don’t think anyone wants to go backwards now,” he said.

“We have to live with it.”

Qantas is due to restart international operations from Brisbane in late March with services to Singapore, Los Angeles and Port Moresby.

The national carrier said it would not bring forward the international schedule, with Omicron dampening demand across global and domestic bookings.

Return flights between Brisbane and Singapore are on sale from $739 and flights to London are $1705.

Flight Centre boss Graham Turner says he expects demand for international travel to surge once Queensland hits its Covid peak. Picture: David Kelly

A Virgin Australia Group spokesman said it would review its international schedule dependant on travel demand.
“Virgin Australia welcomes the arrangements foreshadowed by the Queensland Government to end quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated international arrivals, as another important step towards reopening Australia back up to the world,” he said.

While Queensland’s domestic border restrictions were removed at 1am Saturday, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said restrictions on vaccinated international arrivals must remain until Queensland reaches 90 per cent double dose next week.

“Our international arrivals are the ones that will bring in new variants, we have to consider that carefully and we need a bit more time to make sure we get the settings right,” she said.

“Over the next few days we’ll also be looking at airline and maritime crews to look at what arrangements should happen with them particularly when it comes to vaccinated versus unvaccinated.”

Originally published as Unrestricted international travel to return to Queensland within days