Australian national airline Qantas has pushed back its planned resumption of international flights from July to October 2021. This means that Australia will remain off limits to international tourists for a little longer and its citizens still not permitted to travel overseas for non-essential purposes.
However, a one-way travel bubble is in place with New Zealand which allows citizens of that country to enter Australia without having to undergo a period of quarantine. A reciprocal arrangement is anticipated in the near future.
The extended suspension of flights aligns with the expected timeframe for Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout to be effectively complete.
Qantas is planning to resume flights to 22 of its 25 pre-COVID international destinations including Los Angeles, London, Singapore and Johannesburg from 31 October.
The airline says it won’t initially resume direct flights to New York, Santiago and Osaka, but remains committed to flying to those three destinations. In the meantime, customers will be able to fly to those destinations under codeshare or Oneworld arrangements with partner airlines.
