Qantas chief straps in as flights ramp up

QANTAS chief Alan Joyce has taken his first flight since March, donning a face mask to travel from Sydney to Melbourne to promote the airline’s “fly well” resumption of domestic services.

Measures rolled out yesterday by Qantas and Jetstar to improve the safety of passengers amid the COVID-19 pandemic include care packs with face masks and antibacterial wipes, hand sanitiser stations at gates and checkin, extra cleaning and the option of contactless check-in.

In a post on his LinkedIn page, Mr Joyce said he had probably flown between Sydney and Melbourne 1000 times but he had “never been more excited” than he was to fly the route yesterday.

“It was a little different to my last flight,” Mr Joyce wrote.

“Since then, we’ve implemented a number of additional safety measures as part of our Qantas Group ‘fly well’ program, to help customers feel more at ease when they travel with us.”

Qantas recommends but will not require passengers to wear masks, a measure Mr Joyce said “might have seemed odd a few months ago but felt surprisingly normal”.

Qantas has announced plans to increase capacity to 40 per cent of pre-COVID levels by the end of July in response to demand and the easing of travel restrictions.

It will reinstate services on eight routes which have not operated since March, including Brisbane-Cairns, Perth-Broome, MelbourneAdelaide and Brisbane-Proserpine.

While the airline is taking a number of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on its flights, it has argued social distancing by leaving middle seats empty was neither needed nor practical.

Qantas said hospitalgrade filters fitted in aircraft cabins removed 99.9 per cent of bacteria and viruses from the air, refreshing the cabin air every five minutes, while the high backs of aircraft seats acted as a physical barrier.

Mr Joyce said leaving the middle seats empty would only create an extra 60cm of space but result in fares rising nine-fold at a time when the tourism sector needed critical support.