How Qantas will run US, UK, Fiji flights by Christmas

The airline has set out six main routes that would return first as it promises to get its A380s out of storage early if Australia opens up from December.

Qantas is keeping alive its hope of resuming international flights by Christmas despite a raft of uncertainties surrounding vaccination, borders and quarantine requirements.

In an announcement designed to up pressure on governments to work towards a December reopening date, Qantas boss Alan Joyce said the airline would be ready to fly overseas as soon as the vaccination rate hit 80 per cent.

“If the emotional response to our recent vaccine ad is any indication, the idea of planning a trip will encourage even more people to get the jab,” said Mr Joyce.

“Pending final decisions by government in the months ahead we expect flights to countries with high vaccine rates to resume in mid-December onwards.”

Destinations would initially include the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Fiji and hopefully New Zealand.

Flights to other destinations such as Bali, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Phuket and Johannesburg were expected to start in April 2022.

Qantas chief Alan Joyce receiving his Covid AstraZeneca vaccination.

The services would be operated by Qantas’ fleet of Boeing 787s and A330s, and five A380s were set to be brought out of storage early for high-demand flights between Sydney and LA from July.

The A330s, which normally fly medium-haul routes for Qantas, were expected to undergo technical changes to extend their range across the Pacific, such as having some of the seats removed.

If a border restrictions caused flights to be cancelled, Qantas said it would provide a refund or voucher, or rebook on another date.

Mr Joyce conceded there were still many potential spoilers to the planned resumption of overseas flights, including the risk some states could opt to keep their borders closed.

“Our assumptions for domestic are that both NSW and Victoria won’t see borders opening up to other states until December 1 given that we think the path through this is to get to 70 to 80 per cent vaccination levels,” he said.

“The other states are open to some extent to each other and that may happen before then but the two big states won’t see borders opening until the first of December.

“I hope the premiers will stick with the Prime Minister’s plan which will see us opening up at 70 to 80 per cent.

“I think people really want those freedoms, people want to get back to their normal lives and I think it would be a terrible shame if by Christmas in New South Wales you can visit your relatives in London but can’t visit your relatives in Perth.

Qantas destinations would initially include the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Fiji and hopefully New Zealand. Photo: Mark Evans

“Hopefully we get some consistency from national cabinet pushing to open up Australia and for us not to be a hermit nation going forward.”

Passengers on Qantas flights would be required to carry digital travel passes with a record of their Covid vaccination status, but it was unclear whether mask-wearing would continue to be enforced on board.

Upon return to Australia, Mr Joyce said he would expect quarantine requirements to be as minimal as self-isolation at home until Covid test results were known.

He said if hotel quarantine remained mandatory, Qantas would not resume international flights because the demand would not be there.

“We have been in regular discussions with the government and shared our plan with them but they don’t have a crystal ball,” said Mr Joyce.

“They agree with our broad assumptions and agree this plan is reasonable.”

Speaking on Sky News, Minister for Tourism and Trade Dan Tehan said discussions were underway with the countries to which Qantas planned to fly, in an effort to establish travel bubbles.

“They’re obviously keen to do that, and so we’ll continue to work on those travel bubbles,” said Mr Tehan.

“In the meantime what we’re doing is asking and encouraging all Australians to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated so we can hit that 80 per cent mark and then we can begin to open up to the rest of the world.”

Mr Joyce warned that Qantas could move its popular non-stop Perth-London service to Darwin because of the conservative border policies of the WA government.

He said throughout the pandemic, Qantas had operated many international repatriation flights to Darwin and was well prepared for that possibility.

“We can hope for the best but we have to plan for the worst so if the only option to operate London flight is through Darwin we think we’re capable of doing that,” he said.

“We will have a look at whether that’s a long term position or a short term position.”