Qantas announces international travel will resume on October 31, 2021

Qantas has announced it will delay the return of international flights as it reports a worrying $1 billion hit due to the COVID pandemic.

Qantas has pushed back its return to overseas flights by a further four months, with its international network unlikely to be fully restored until 2024 at the earliest.

The announcement was made on Thursday as the Qantas Group reported a staggering $1 billion loss in its half-year trading update.

The company said Qantas and Jetstar international flights would make a comeback from October 31, instead of July, as it previously forecast.

Most of Qantas’ international routes would resume on that date, including flights to London, Singapore and Los Angeles.

Three routes – New York, Santiago and Osaka – will return at a later date, with Qantas passengers able to fly to those cities with codeshare partners in the meantime.

However flights to New Zealand are likely to increase from July as Australia maintains its travel bubble arrangement with its trans-Tasman neighbour.

In addition, Jetstar would resume flights to all 13 of its international destinations from October 31.

Qantas had for months projected a mid-2021 resumption of international travel but has adjusted the timeline in sync with the expected completion of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Qantas has pushed back the return of overseas flights by another four months. Picture: Sam Mooy

“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve updated our assumptions on international travel restarting.

Since the start of this year, we’ve seen a huge surge in COVID cases around the world, new strains emerging and a shift from ‘herd immunity’ as the threshold for opening borders to ‘fully vaccinated’,” Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce said on Thursday.

“As a result, we’re now planning for international travel to restart at the end of October this year, in line with the date for Australia’s vaccine rollout to be effectively complete.

“We’re still targeting July for a material increase in New Zealand flights. We’re in close consultation with government, and if things change, so will our dates.

“But with the vaccine rollout already underway, we’re on the right track.”

Qantas boss Alan Joyce says the return of overseas flights would be timed with the expected completion of Australia’s vaccine rollout. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone

Qantas said its current international flying capacity was around 8 per cent of its pre-pandemic levels, which now consisted of repatriation flights and services to New Zealand.

The company does not expect international flights to see much of an increase in the second half of 2021, and its international network is not expected to be fully restored until 2024 at least.

However, it is looking towards a “significant increase” in flights to New Zealand from July 1.

Mr Joyce said Qantas was talking with the federal government about its plans to officially reopen Australia’s borders.

“The federal government wants to see a few things happening before they can make a firm date happen with international borders, like the transmission effectiveness of the vaccine,” he said.

“We are confident there should be a good case for reopening in October, (when) the population will be fully vaccinated.”

The Qantas boss said he was optimistic about the future of trans-Tasman flights.

“New Zealand is rolling out their vaccine scheme, (and) by July we’ll have the hotel quarantine issue covered which reduces the risk significantly,” Mr Joyce said.

“We’re hopeful that would mean the outbreaks that we’ve seen in New Zealand and Australia are very, very unlikely once the quarantine workers have been vaccinated, which brings stability and certainty, and allows people confidence in opening up the travel bubble.

“That still could change, the politics always brings thing to bear, but when you look at it, the science of it, there’s no reason why that shouldn’t happen, and we’re hopeful we can get there on it.”

Qantas also confirmed all its Airbus A380 fleet would remain grounded until June 30, 2023 at the earliest.

The airline has delayed a decision about whether to order new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, capable of flying ultra-long haul flights.