Qantas Reopens International Flight Bookings from July 2021

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Qantas is commencing the New Year with a not-so-subtle hint of optimism as it announces the reopening of bookings for international travel from July 2021 onwards. The airline has reopened its bookings across its international network beginning from July 1^st, 2021.

Proposed Reopening Plan

The proposed manifest also includes flights traveling to the USA and London. Earlier, Qantas had excluded these flagship routes from its schedule at least until October 2021. New Zealand remains the only overseas destination listed on Qantas’ timetable all through 29^th March, 2021. The previously planned schedule included the resumption of flights to Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and several other destinations, however, this plan now stands discarded in favour of the July reboot.

A Qantas spokesperson was quoted in an interview highlighting the significance of this announcement. He stated that the airline has “aligned the selling of its international services to reflect its expectation that international travel will begin to restart from July 2021.” He further added, “We continue to review and update our international schedule in response to the developing COVID-19 situation.”

At the 2020 Qantas’ Annual General Meeting held in October, CEO Alan Joyce asserted, “for some of our big destination like the United States and the UK, it’s going to need a vaccine given the high prevalence of the virus in both of those locations.” He also added, “But we are getting more and more confident about the opportunities and the potential for a vaccine in helping getting those operations up by potentially the end of 2021.” Earlier, Joyce had suggested that vaccination will be mandatory for international travel through the Qantas airways, however, later he stated that exceptions will be made in the case of ‘bubble corridors’.

Excluded Destinations from the July Listings

However, there remain certain destinations that have been deliberately and quite conspicuously omitted from the July reboot listings. The most notable among them is New York. The previously operative Boeing 787 between Los Angeles and New York’s JFK Airport stands suspended until further notice. Moreover, Qantas was scheduled to launch direct Brisbane-Chicago flights on 15^th April 2020. This endeavour too stands suspended. Similarly, non-stop flights from Sydney to Santiago also remain suspended.