As travel restrictions across the country start to ease, Qantas and Jetstar will increase their domestic and regional flying for June and July.
Get ready to explore the beautiful country that we call home.
The additional Qantas and Jetstar services will see a capacity increase from 5 percent of pre-Coronavirus levels, to 15 percent by the end of June.
This equates to more than 300 more return flights per week.
Additional flights will likely operate during July depending on travel demand and further relaxation of state borders, with the ability to increase to up to 40 percent of the Group’s pre-crisis domestic capacity by the end of July.
“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,”
Alan Joyce, Qantas Group CEO
Additional flight details
Some of the need to know points for the expanding schedule include:
- More services on capital city routes particularly Melbourne-Sydney and a number of routes to-and-from Canberra.
- Increased intra-state flights for Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. Broome, Cairns and Rockhampton to see a significant boost in weekly flights.
- Flights will resume on eight routes not currently being operated.
- Qantas to commence flights from Sydney to Byron Bay (Ballina), after the route launch was postponed due to the Coronavirus.
A state by state breakdown of the Group’s domestic and regional schedule can be viewed here.
Fly Well
As part of the Group’s ‘Fly Well’ program, Qantas and Jetstar will have a range of measures in place from 12 June 2020 to ensure a safe environment at airports and onboard aircraft and to give customers extra peace of mind.
This includes contactless check-in, enhanced cleaning, and masks and sanitising wipes provided to all customers.
READ: Need To Know: Your Post COVID-19 Airline Health & Safety Guide
“The one million people who work in tourism around Australia have been really hurting over the past few months. 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.”
Alan Joyce, Qantas Group CEO
As a result of the additional flying, both airlines will be standing up more employees to operate and support these services.
However, given the Group network remains significantly below pre-Coronavirus levels, the majority of Qantas Group employees will remain stood down.
Advice for your customers
To provide customers with greater flexibility and confidence when they book, all Qantas and Jetstar domestic customers can change the date of their flight once, without paying a change fee.
Bookings need to be made before 30 June 2020, for travel between 12 June and 31 October 2020. Customers will have to cover any fare increase (if relevant) for the new booking.
If a flight is cancelled by QF or JQ, customers will be rebooked on the next available flight at no additional cost. Alternatively, customers can choose a flight credit or a refund. For more information visit Qantas and Jetstar.
Click here to get ready for the domestic tourism push, but completing Tourism Australia’s Aussie Specialist Program.