Aviation stimulus support tops $1bn

Australia’s aviation industry will have received more than $1bn in coronavirus subsidies by the end of the JobKeeper scheme next month.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Australia’s aviation industry will have received more than $1bn in coronavirus subsidies by the end of the JobKeeper scheme next month as airlines struggle amid continued international border closures and restrictions on interstate travel.

Qantas reported $459m in JobKeeper payments for the last six months of 2020, in addition of $267m paid before July — becoming the single-largest recipient of money from the federal government program intended to stave off a surge in unemployment as the coronavirus pandemic hit.

The airline’s plans to relaunch international flights by October come as the world’s largest carriers — in a submission to an Australian National Audit Office inquiry into how border arrangements were managed during the pandemic — warned they were often the last to learn about new restrictions, leaving them unable to communicate with passengers or plan flights.

The Board of Airline Representatives of Australia, which counts Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways among its 33 members, said changes to border arrangements were often communicated through media releases before official regulations had been issued or even ­developed.

In one instance, an airline had to deny more than 100 passengers boarding at the airport, and thousands more people with tickets were told they could not fly.

“International aviation cannot operate in response to statements issued at a press conference or via media release,” said the submission, which was shared with The Australian.

“The industry needs formally communicated regulations and procedures.”

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said there were a number of details that needed to be sorted out before international flights resumed, in particular the requirements for travellers.

Although vaccination against COVID-19 was expected to become a condition of travel in and out of Australia, Mr Joyce said that decision and the reopening of borders were in the federal ­government’s hands.

“The federal government has the final decision on this, that’s very clear. They want to see a few things happening before they can make a firm date on what happens on international borders like the transmission effectiveness of the vaccine,” Mr Joyce said.

“We are confident there should be a good case for opening up in October. The population will be fully vaccinated, we will have got herd immunity.”

The resumption of international travel would mean thousands more Qantas employees returned to work, with 7500 directly involved in overseas flights.

New Zealand services were ­expected to resume in July and a much broader network of flying in late October, to all but New York, Santiago and Osaka.

Until that time, Mr Joyce said some level of government assistance would be needed to ensure their skills were not lost to the airline industry when the JobKeeper allowance was cut off next month.

“I think (the government) is conscious about what they need to do and how they need to support that group, but we don’t have any answers yet,” he said.

In the short term, domestic travel remained the focus of Qantas and low-fares partner Jetstar, with flights expected to return to 80 per cent of pre-COVID capacity by June.

Mr Joyce said that could easily reach 100 per cent if state borders were permanently reopened and confidence in travel restored.