According to a Yahoo Finance Exclusive published today, Qantas has confirmed the exact dates when the airline anticipates to be able to ‘Fly away’ again to destinations in the US, UK, Asia and the Pacific. Just in time for Christmas.
A Qantas Group spokesperson reportedly revealed to Yahoo Finance that scheduled QF flights to London, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Singapore will begin from 18 December.
Vaccinated Aussies will also be able to travel to Honolulu, Tokyo and Fiji from 19 December.
The news has since hit other mainstream mastheads including The Australian and News.com.au.
An overseas Christmas reunion?
Santa could be coming early as this appears to be the Groups most definitive confirmation of an overseas restart since CEO Alan Joyce revealed late last month he expected schedules to certain destinations would begin from “mid-December”.
Qantas has bookable (and flexible) scheduled flights for the following routes ex Sydney and Melbourne.
“Fly Away” from 18 December 2021
- Sydney – London
- Melbourne – London
- Sydney – Los Angeles
- Sydney – Vancouver
- Sydney – Singapore
- Melbourne – Singapore
“Fly Away” from 19 December 2021
- Melbourne – Los Angeles
- Brisbane – Los Angeles
- Sydney – Honolulu
- Brisbane – Singapore
- Sydney – Tokyo
- Sydney – Fiji
Fares on qantas.com.au go for between a pricey $1290 and $2400 for one-way Economy Class to London Heathrow and Los Angeles flights, costing slightly more on the return legs.
Premium Economy ranges between $3402 and $5586 one-way to London Heathrow.
Business Class flights range between $4213 and $5512 one-way to London Heathrow.
And if you really fancy treating yourself, First-Class starts at $7981 one-way to London Heathrow in December.
Qantas’ confirmation follows other recent restart updates from airlines including Air Canada, Fiji Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways who last week launched an international airfare sale with return airfares to London from $1399.
All are scheduled to begin flights from mid-December, pending, of course, an official announcement from the federal government as to the when and how.
Scepticism aside, it’d be fair to say that the noise has been amping up in the last fortnight with dots beginning to join around the prospect of an end of year reopening.
According to the National Cabinet’s four-phase pathway, Australians would be able to travel when 80 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated.
Currently, Australia is just over halfway to reaching that target; 43.9 per cent of Australians have had their second dose and 69.1 per cent having had one jab.
However, it was only last week that the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the federal ban on Australians leaving the country without government permission will be dropped as soon as November under plans to end the 18 month plus travel restrictions and implement a “vaccine passport” so travellers can cross international borders.
Home quarantine is also on the cards in a bid to get more stranded Australians home. South Australia is currently trialling the initiative with PM Scott Morrison said last week, “We are looking forward to welcoming many people back home soon. We can get there this year.”
However, given it is only three months away, the question still remains, when will the federal government formally announce a go date for green lane travel? Or increase arrival caps?
With planes still parked in deserts, staff stood down and no clarity on what the vaccinated journey process looks like, the travel industry needs to know now so they can operationally prepare for a mid-December (or earlier) restart with confidence and ensure that pent up demand can be met appropriately.
If Yahoo Finance is right though, maybe the airlines know some of this already.