It might be time to dust off that old suitcase as Qantas are planning their first international flights in almost two years this December.
As per The Australian, the airline are preparing flights for December 18th to London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Singapore. The flights will depart from Melbourne and Sydney, and the London flights will go via either Perth or Singapore. If all goes well, the following day will see flights operating to Tokyo and Fiji, as well as flights from Brisbane to Singapore and Los Angeles.
December 20th will potentially then feature flights from Sydney to Honolulu as Australia’s travel industry tries to get back on track in time for Christmas. Under the assumption that the trans-Tasman bubble will recommence shortly, flights to New Zealand are also on sale for dates running up to Christmas.
At the time of writing, the Qantas booking site has lots of remaining seats for most of the flights, although the cheapest fares for the Sydney to London flight on December 18th have already gone, so you might want to act quick if you want to escape to the Northern Hemisphere for the holidays.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce reiterated that the airline would require all passengers to be fully vaccinated in order to board international flights; depending on the destination, a negative COVID test within 72 hours of departure may also be required.
Another thing to note is that all these upcoming services are conditional on the federal government lifting the ban on overseas travel which was recently extended until December 17th. With the government’s plan to reach the 80% vaccination rate on track currently, the ban is hoped to end on December 17th.
If destinations such as London or Los Angeles aren’t your thing, Qantas are expecting to add Hong Kong to its list in February, followed by popular spots like Bali and Thailand in April.
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