The airlines will add thousands of flights to and from Melbourne and regional Victoria this summer following the NSW Government’s decision to reopen borders. Starting November 23, 2020, Qantas and Jetstar will operate over 250 weekly flights across five routes.
On Wednesday (November 4, 2020), Qantas announced that the carrier and their Jetstar subsidiary will add flights between New South Wales (NSW) and regional Victoria for summer as the NSW Government has made the decision to reopen borders. From November 23, 2020, the carriers will operate over 250 flights across five routes offering travelers 48,000 seats between the states. With the added flights, the Group’s capacity will increase from around 30 percent to nearly 40 percent of their pre-pandemic capacity. The company will reactivate some stored aircraft and more team members will return to work to support the additional flying. In Wednesday’s announcement, Qantas Domestic & International CEO, Andrew David, said,
“This is fantastic news. We’ve added thousands more flights back into our schedule today which will see Melbourne-Sydney once again become the busiest air route in Australia. November 23 will be a day many people will now be looking forward to. It’s exciting for the family and friends who can finally be reunited after months apart. It’s also great for businesses, and great for getting more of our planes in the air and more of our people back to work.
“Pre-COVID, Melbourne-Sydney was the busiest air route in Australia and the second busiest in the world. On a busy day, Qantas and Jetstar would operate more than 100 flights per day between New South Wales and Victoria. During the lockdown, our schedule reduced to as low as one flight a day.
“When you consider the social and economic impact of border closures, we’ve always said things should open up as soon as it’s safe to do so. New South Wales has led the way in taking a sensible, risk-based approach to borders that’s supported by what is probably one of the best contact tracing programs in the world. It’s great to see New South Wales and Victoria working together on what is a national issue. Queensland and Western Australia are unfortunately taking a different approach, which doesn’t seem based on a realistic assessment of risk.”
Qantas and Jetstar have introduced several measures since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic to help customers book with greater flexibility including flights changes without fees. The Group has also implemented numerous health and safety protocols as part of their comprehensive ‘Fly Well’ program to ensure the wellbeing of guests and team members.
Source: Qantas