australian airports want kickstart of international travel ‘within months’

Australian airport operators are calling for a phased reopening of international borders to kick-start the pandemic-stricken aviation sector.

James Goodwin, chief executive of the Australian Airports Association, spoke with Today after Thursday’s announcement by Qantas that international flights would resume in October. Mr Goodwin said the news was welcome but called on the Federal Government to provide a blueprint to help the aviation sector.

“What we really want to see is a phased reopening of those borders to rebuild confidence to travel. And we want to get people filling those aircraft and filling our airports.”

Mr Goodwin said airports in Australia had been losing about AU$320 million (FJ$505.11m) every month through the pandemic and 25 per cent of the workforce had lost their jobs in the past 12 months.

Despite this, international airports have remained open for returning Australians and to handle freight cargo. But Mr Goodwin said now was the time for the Federal Government to release details about reopening international borders and potential travel bubbles.

“We know that international travel is really necessary to get the sector and economy back on track,” he said.

“We know that before COVID international travel injected about $60 billion of value into the Australian economy and about nine million passengers so we really need that international travel to come back.”

Mr Goodwin said October - the month when Australia’s vaccination rollout is scheduled to be completed - was a realistic time for international travel to resume.

“We want to maintain the safety that we have had and keeping COVID contained, but let’s start looking at the plan,” he said.

Qantas said international flights will re-commence on October 21 - four months later than the planned resumption date of July.

“The date change aligns with the expected timeframe for Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout to be effectively complete,” Qantas said in a statement.

The airline posted a record AU$1.08 billion (FJ$ 1.70bn) revenue half-year loss yesterday.

Photo: Qantas Qantas has announced a $1b half yearly loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline also said international flights will resume in October.