No delay in return of international flights
PHOTOS of a bustling domestic terminal illustrate the gradual resurgence of Gold Coast Airport as interstate tourists return – while international travel hopes have been given a rev up.
The airport has a way to go to claw itself back to the number of flights and passengers pre-coronavirus, but the fresh images are a far cry from deserted scenes captured last year.
Back then at some of its darkest days, the airport traffic reduced from 420 flights a week on average to a handful.
Meanwhile, Qantas has revealed it has reopened international travel bookings from July, despite the Federal Government distancing itself from the decision. The country’s biggest airline carrier announced on Tuesday it would be taking bookings for its international network months earlier than anticipated.
Qantas is selling seats to the United States and United Kingdom from July and Flight Centre is ready to follow.
Australia’s national carrier restarted sales of the international flights despite both countries struggling to bring the virus under control.
“We continue to review and update our international schedule in response to the developing COVID-19 situation,” Qantas confirmed.
“Recently we have aligned the selling of our international services to reflect our expectation that international travel will begin to restart from July 2021.”
Within hours, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack hit back and said the government would decide when international travel would resume. But he did flag discussions around a potential NZ travel bubble.
“International borders will be opened when international arrivals do not pose a risk to Australians,” he said.
“The Australian government is working on travel arrangements with countries, such as NZ that have low community infections. Operations and ticket sales on particular routes are commercial decisions for airlines.”
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce previously pointed to the development of a vaccine as the first step towards the return of international flights.
Flight Centre CEO Graham ‘ Skroo’ Turner said the Queensland travel giant would closely watch Qantas’ success before deciding on restarting sales of its own international holiday packages.
Mr Turner said international travel was likely to return from July following Australia’s first COVID-19 vaccinations – which the government hopes will start in March.
“It’s reasonable to accept that vaccinated people will be able to travel reasonably widely by July,” he said.
“I would be surprised if a reasonable level of international travel for Australians wasn’t occurring by then.”
Mr Turner, locked in hotel quarantine after a business trip to London over Christmas, tipped British residents would travel across Europe within months despite the nation being plunged into its third national lockdown this week.