Qantas, Virgin Australia suspend last international flights amid travel ban

Qantas and Virgin Australia international flights will be grounded indefinitely, following the end of the government-subsidised network.

Qantas and Virgin Australia international flights will be grounded indefinitely from today, following the end of the government-subsidised network covering journeys from London, Auckland, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

The network of international flights, which was designed to bring stranded Australians home from overseas during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, will see Virgin Australia’s final international flight return from Los Angeles today, while Qantas’ final leg from the USA landed on Monday morning.

It is understood the Morrison Government is currently reviewing whether or not more overseas flights will need to be funded to bring stranded Aussies home, but at this stage the network has come to an end given residents should have made arrangements to return by now.

For now, the concentrated effort turns to the domestic network for both airlines, which has been extended to the end of September.

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In a statement provided to news.com.au, a spokesperson for Virgin Australia said while the extended government-funded domestic network was welcomed by the airline, it is still unclear whether international government-subsidised network will be reinstated.

“We welcome the Federal Government’s announcement that underwritten support for a minimal domestic network will be extended, enabling Virgin Australia to increase its network reach and cities served,” the statement read.

“Pleasingly, the extension of the minimal network allows us to keep some team members working throughout the crisis and continue to keep Australia connected during this time.

“We remain in discussions with the Government and hope to have a new contract finalised soon.”

While our borders remain closed to nonresidents, there are more flights with Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and Etihad coming into Australia given their respective homeports are now allowing for transit. For the US, United Airlines’ daily Sydney-San Francisco service now stands as the only direct passenger link between Australia and the United States.

The shift is now on the domestic market. Picture: David Clark Photography

This means the pressure to fund Qantas and Virgin Australia to make the flights has eased, with the government shifting focus on the domestic market where it has extended the program until the end of September.

Last week, Qantas and Jetstar announced they would be increasing their domestic network from around 100 flights to more than 300 flights in line with easing travel restrictions.

It is understood the increase on services will focus on capital city routes particularly between Melbourne and Sydney, and a number of routes to-and-from Canberra.

Qantas said an increase on intrastate flights for Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia will also commence, with a boost in weekly flights to and from Broome, Cairns and Rockhampton.

Domestic services are slowly increasing while bans remain on international travel.

Qantas currently has five weekly return flights from Sydney to Melbourne, but that will increase to 46 flights by the end of June. From Sydney to Brisbane, which currently has four weekly flights, will be increased to 21 by the same date.

For Jetstar flights, there will be an increase from seven return journeys to 21 between Sydney and Melbourne, while flights from Melbourne to Brisbane will increase from three flights to five.

Australians have been banned from leaving the country since March 25, unless given an exemption, while only Australian citizens, residents and immediate family members can travel to Australia and must go into quarantine for 14 days on arrival.