International tourism set to restart by year’s end, says PM

The ramp-up of international flights by Qantas is set to precede the return of overseas tourists to Australia by the end of the year.

International tourists could return to Australia by the end of the year, following an accelerated ramp-up of overseas flights from next month.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison flagged the earlier than expected relaxation of Australian-entry restrictions at Friday’s Qantas announcement about international flights.

Massive demand for seats had seen the airline add another 20 Sydney-London services next month, and flights to Singapore, Fiji, Johannesburg, Bangkok and Phuket were being brought forward by several weeks.

Qantas also announced a new Sydney-Delhi route from December 6, with thousands of seats selling within hours of the news.

And Qantas CEO Alan Joyce flagged the possibility Jetstar flights to Bali could return before the end of the year, with discussions well underway with the Indonesian government.

The expanded ramp-up was in response to NSW’s and Victoria’s decisions to open up to fully vaccinated Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families without the need to quarantine from November 1.

Mr Morrison said foreign students, business travellers and skilled migrants would soon follow, ahead of overseas tourists.

“I’m confident that because of the way we have prepared for this day now, that is very possible and very achievable before the end of the year, to be getting to international visitors,” he said.

The Prime Minister added that it was imperative Australia “opened up safely and remained safely open” to give travellers certainty.

“We need to move at a pace the Australian public feel very comfortable with, we need to demonstrate that opening up those borders is being done safely, and they can feel confident,

because I want us to open confidently,” Mr Morrison said.

“And I have no doubt that this will be very successful.”

The commitment to Australia’s reopening, in line with rising vaccination rates, was welcomed by the Australian Tourism Export Council, which had been pressing for a firm date for the resumption of international leisure travel.

ATEC managing director Peter Shelley said the gradual reopening would help the industry finetune services for the resumption of full-scale travel.

“We congratulate Qantas on their leadership and the Australian community on their uptake in vaccinations, which has helped to get us to this point earlier than expected, and look forward to announcements by the federal government on the date we can welcome back international travellers,” Mr Shelley said.

For Qantas employees the announcement all Australian-based staff would be stood up by the end of the year was reason for celebration.

With all Boeing 787s, A330s and even a few A380s set to return to service in coming months, pilots were finally able to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Australian and International Pilots Association vice-president Barry Jackson said the last 20 months had been something of a rollercoaster for their members.

“I think this will be an upward trajectory for a lot of people,” said Captain Jackson, himself an A380 pilot.

“There’s a lot of celebration happening today.”

The packed schedule of flying was not without its challenges, with Qantas working around the clock to ensure aircraft and crews were ready for an early takeoff.

Mr Joyce thanked the federal government for all it had done to ensure the airline could maintain its skilled workforce throughout the pandemic, through JobKeeper, Aviation Keeper and other support programs.

He said he hoped other states would soon follow NSW and move to “what every other global city in the world has moved to, which is that there’s no quarantine for vaccinated passengers coming in”.

Mr Morrison said South Australia and Tasmania were closing in on key vaccination targets and he hoped Queensland and Western Australia would increase their rates of vaccination.

“They are not at those 70 and 80 per cent levels yet, and they must achieve those levels in order for us to move to those next step,” he said.

Qantas was not the only airline to accelerate its flying schedule on Friday, with Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific also committing to near pre-Covid-19 capacity schedules.

With Singapore and Australia set to reopen to one another in coming weeks, Singapore Airlines planned to operate its A380s on services to Sydney from December 1.

Regional vice president Louis Arul said throughout the pandemic, Singapore had continued to operate to Australia bringing 67,000 people home on almost 4000 flights.

Cathay Pacific was set to fly 10 weekly services between Hong Kong and Sydney from November 1 and nine weekly services to Melbourne.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce (fifth left), Prime Minister Scott Morrison (middle left), NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet (middle right) and Jetstar CEO Gareth Evans (sixth right) with Qantas and Jetstar employees during a press conference at the Qantas Jet Base at Sydney Airport. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi