Qantas to triple number of domestic flights by end of June

As rival Virgin battles its way through administration, Qantas has announced plans to pull planes out of mothballs and get more services up and running.

Qantas planes being stored at Avalon Airport in Victoria throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Qantas is poised to roar back to life ahead of the July school holidays in a show of strength that embattled rival Virgin Australia can only watch from the sidelines.

In response to the gradual easing of social and travel restrictions, Qantas announced on Thursday it would triple the number of weekly domestic flights to over 300 from June 22, or 15 per cent of pre-COVID capacity.

By the end of July, the airline hoped to be operating at 40 per cent of domestic capacity, depending on demand for travel and the easing of state border restrictions.

The increase in flights will see up to 2000 employees return to work, and a range of aircraft including 737s, 717s, A330s, A320s and Dash 8s brought out of storage.

Qantas shares lifted 7.2 per cent on the news, to close at $4.49 on Thursday.

Group CEO Alan Joyce said normally capacity was planned months in advance but in the current climate they needed to be flexible to respond to changing restrictions and demand levels.

“These additional flights are an important first step to help get more people out into communities that rely on tourism and bring a much-needed boost to local businesses,” Mr Joyce said.

“We know there is a lot of pent-up demand for air travel and we are already seeing a big increase in customers booking and planning flights in the weeks and months ahead.”

A spokesman for Virgin Australia said they were continuing to review their schedule which had been reduced to 76 return flights a week, subsidised by the federal government.

The carrier remains in administration with debts of $6.8bn but was hoping to finalise a sale by the end of June.

Among the changes to Qantas and Jetstar’s schedules were increased frequency on key routes such as Sydney-Melbourne and to-and-from Canberra; and additional intrastate flights in Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia.

Broome, Cairns and Rockhampton would see a significant boost to services, and flights would resume on eight routes including Brisbane-Proserpine, Adelaide-Melbourne, Melbourne-Newcastle, Sydney-Moree and Brisbane-Cairns.

Airfares available on the Qantas booking site on Thursday were as low as $151 for Sydney-Melbourne, $138 for Brisbane-Proserpine on Jetstar and $129 for Melbourne-Adelaide.

Mr Joyce said passengers would notice a number of difference when they next flew, with cabin crew handing out masks and sanitising wipes on boarding.

“We’ll be sending out information before their flight so they know exactly what to expect and have some extra peace of mind,” he said.

“Importantly, the Australian government’s medical experts have said the risk of contracting coronavirus on an aircraft is low.”

A resumption of international flights was still someway off with subsidised “rescue” services currently being operated by Qantas and Virgin Australia due to end this weekend.

Talks were being held with the federal government about an extension to those taxpayer-funded flights to destinations such as London and Los Angeles.

Meanwhile Air New Zealand has poured cold water on the resumption of trans-Tasman flights anytime soon, saying it would not propose such services until borders were open.

“We appreciate that both businesses and travellers are enthusiastic about operations – and we assure customers that as soon as it is possible to operate, Air New Zealand will be ready to return to the Tasman,” a statement from Air New Zealand said.