Qantas will start flying to Delhi from Sydney in early December and is bringing forward flights to other destinations like Singapore, Fiji and South Africa to meet demand from travellers, who will not have to quarantine in NSW from November 1 if they are vaccinated.
“We know that Australians are keen to get overseas and see friends and family or have a long-awaited holiday, so bringing forward the restart of flights to these popular international destinations will give customers even more options to travel this summer,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said on Friday.
“We’ve said for months that the key factor in ramping up international flying would be the quarantine requirement.
“The decision by the NSW Government to join many cities from around the world by removing quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers means we’re able to add these flights from Sydney much earlier than we would have otherwise.”
The planned reopening of most state borders will allow Qantas to bring its 22,000 employees back to work in December, and add more flights on domestic routes, the airline said.
Most states plan to have borders open to vaccinated travellers by Christmas except Western Australia which refuses to set a date for re-opening its border.
Premier Mark McGowan said earlier this week that he did not want people to have to wear masks and be restricted from going to restaurants and other activities over the Christmas season.
When the Victorian and NSW borders open, Qantas and Jetstar will operate up to 18 return flights per day, increasing to up to 37 return flights per day by Christmas.
Qantas plans to start a new route from Sydney to Delhi on December 6, with three return flights per week, increasing to daily flights by end of the year if it receives approvals from Indian authorities.
The flights will continue until at least March 2022 and potentially continue if there is sufficient demand. The flights from Sydney to Delhi will go via Darwin. Flights from Delhi to Sydney will be non-stop.
Flights to and from Sydney to Singapore will restart on November, a month earlier than planned. They will initially operate three days a week and switch to daily flights from December 18.
Jetstar will fly from Melbourne and Darwin to Singapore from mid-December.
Qantas will also bring forward planned flights from Sydney to Fiji to December 7, almost two weeks earlier than planned. Jetstar will start flying to Fiji on December 17.
Sydney to Johannesburg flights will resume on January 5, three months earlier than expected, while Sydney to Bangkok flights will get under way on January 14, two months earlier than scheduled and Sydney to Phuket flights will restart on January 12.
Qantas has already said that it will operate five return flights a week between Sydney and London and up to four a week between Sydney and Los Angeles from November 1.
Flights to Honolulu, Vancouver, Tokyo and New Zealand are also scheduled to start from mid-December.