It wasn’t long ago that the Boeing 747 was a mainstay of commercial airlines, easily spotted at most major international airports around the world. Fast forward to September 2020, and the Boeing 747 is operating just a small handful of scheduled passenger flights for only four airlines. Boeing 747s will fly on only 17 worldwide routes … Continued
Qantas today revealed that it does not expect international flights to resume until at least July 2021. The grim outlook came as Qantas announced a $2.7 billion statutory loss before tax for the 2019-20 financial year. In today’s announcement, the national carrier said that its international network was “unlikely to restart before July 2021; possibly … Continued
Virgin Australia has revealed how the airline plans to emerge from voluntary administration, and it’s a mixture of good and bad news. Virgin will retain most of its airport lounges and Business class cabins, and all Velocity Frequent Flyer points and travel credits will be honoured. But it will emerge as a smaller airline focusing … Continued
A few weeks ago, Qantas cancelled almost all of its international flights until 24 October 2020. These cancellations were quietly extended yesterday by another five months, until the end of March 2021. The only exception is flights between Australia and New Zealand, which are currently scheduled to resume on 17 August 2020. However, the cancellation … Continued
There was a 98% reduction in international passengers travelling to and from Australia in April 2020, compared to the previous year, despite a surge in people leaving Australia on repatriation flights. Almost half of those passengers flew with Qatar Airways. There was also a 97.2% reduction in domestic airline passengers travelling within Australia in April 2020. … Continued
Qantas has now cancelled most of its scheduled international flights, except some flights to New Zealand, until 24 October 2020. It comes as Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham indicates normal international travel may not resume until 2021. Meanwhile, the Queensland government plans to start billing returning international travellers for their mandatory 14-day … Continued
Virgin Australia will double the number of domestic flights being operated from early July as domestic travel restrictions slowly start to be relaxed. From next month there will be more intrastate flights within Queensland and Western Australia. This will provide more options for travel within the two states during the July school holidays. There will also … Continued
Qantas and Jetstar will triple the amount of domestic and regional flights being operated around Australia by the end of June, taking the airlines’ domestic schedules from 5% to 15% of pre-coronavirus capacity. As well as increasing frequencies on most existing routes that are still being operated, Qantas and Jetstar will soon resume flights on … Continued
Qantas plans to replace the Boeing 747 with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on the Sydney-Johannesburg route from 28 March 2021, ending months of speculation about the future of the route and Qantas’ Boeing 747 fleet. Qantas has just released its flight schedules for travel beyond 28 March 2021, which marks the beginning of the IATA 2021 … Continued
Emirates and Etihad Airways are both resuming commercial passenger flights to and from Australia. Qatar Airways, meanwhile, is also making a return to Brisbane in May 2020. Etihad Airways flights from Melbourne to London From today, Etihad will operate one flight per week from Melbourne to London via Abu Dhabi. The flight will operate on … Continued
Regional Express Airlines (Rex) has floated a crazy idea to start flights on domestic trunk routes between Australia’s capital cities, competing directly with Qantas (and possibly Virgin Australia, if it emerges from voluntary administration). Under the proposal, Rex would lease 10 narrow-body jets and operate on key routes such as Sydney-Brisbane and Melbourne-Adelaide. Rex normally … Continued
With Australia’s borders effectively closed, and most Australians banned from leaving the country for the time being, it’s fair to say that demand for international air travel is weak right now. Many airlines have responded by reducing or eliminating international flights to or from Australia. But the movement of cargo is more important than ever. … Continued
