Qantas to resume international flights in October

Qantas has confirmed it is working to restart international travel by the end of October 2021 and increase travel with New Zealand in July.

The announcement was made on Thursday as the Qantas Group reported a staggering $1 billion loss in profits in the first half of its trading year.

“These figures are stark, but they won’t come as a surprise,” CEO Alan Joyce said. “Border closures meant we lost virtually 100 per cent of our international flying and 70 per cent of our domestic flying."

On a domestic level, Qantas and Jetstar were cash positive, he added.

“In fact, 99 per cent of the time we were able to fly, we generated positive cashflow,” he said, explaining it appeared Australians were “keen to travel when they have confidence on borders."

With the vaccine rollout, "hopefully, domestic border closures will soon be a thing of the past,” he continued.

Joyce also announced that Qantas and Jetstar international flights would make a comeback from October 31.

“The federal government wants to see a few things happening before they can make a firm date happen with international borders, like the transmission effectiveness of the vaccine,” he said.

“We are confident there should be a good case for reopening in October, (when) the population will be fully vaccinated.”