Qantas plays Santa with release of pre-Christmas flight plan

Qantas’s first commercial international flights in almost two years are set to takeoff on December 18, to London, LA, Vancouver and Singapore.

Qantas’s first commercial international flights in almost two years are set to takeoff on December 18, to London, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Singapore.

The services will depart from Melbourne and Sydney, and in the case of the London flights go via either Perth or Singapore.

The next day more destinations will come on line including Tokyo and Fiji, as well as flights from Brisbane to Singapore and Los Angeles.

Then on December 20, flights from Sydney to Honolulu will recommence potentially signalling a return to some semblance of normality for the travel industry.

Flights to New Zealand are also on sale for dates prior to Christmas, on the assumption the trans-Tasman bubble will restart by then.

According to the Qantas booking site, seats remained available for most flights although in the case of Sydney-London on December 18, the cheapest fares had all been snapped up.

Travellers should expect to pay between $1600 and $2300 one way for London and LA services, and slightly less for the return legs.

London is one of the first cities on the Qantas schedule. Picture: Getty Images

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has made it clear the airline would require passengers to be fully vaccinated as a condition of boarding international flights, and depending on the destination, travellers may also need evidence of a negative Covid test within 72-hours of takeoff.

All services being sold carry the caveat of being “subject to government and regulatory approval”.

The federal government recently extended the ban on overseas travel to December 17 but restrictions were expected to ease once Australia’s vaccination rate hit 80 per cent of eligible people.

Mr Joyce remained hopeful flights would be able to resume a week before Christmas, and gradually ramp up in 2022.

Qantas recently indicated it was seeing enormous interest in the December flights with searches of those services tripling.

Hottest destinations included London, Los Angeles and Singapore from Sydney and Melbourne, as Covid-weary residents look to escape months of lockdown and restrictions.

Providing the flight schedule does resume as planned, Qantas was expecting to add Hong Kong to its destination list from February, followed by Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Johannesburg from April.

A number of other airlines have also begun scheduling commercial flights on Australian routes from December 18, including Fiji Airways and Air Canada.

It’s not known as yet what quarantine requirements will be imposed for fully vaccinated travellers arriving from overseas or those returning to Australia.

Mr Joyce has indicated the continuation of mandatory hotel requirement would make the flights unviable but some form of home quarantine may be acceptable.

Further details of what will be required for international travel are expected to be revealed in coming weeks with foreign airlines calling for clarity and a streamlining of current airport processes.