Qantas has announced the first batch of international flights it hopes to get off the ground just before Christmas 2021, signalling the return of overseas travel. As New South Wales continues to crawl towards a mid-October ‘freedom day,’ Aussies anxiously await to hear when they can once again travel outside the country, and where exactly they’ll be able to go. As far as the new Qantas December flights go, the initial destinations will include London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Singapore, Tokyo, Hawaii, and Fiji.
From today, Qantas is accepting bookings for services to London, Vancouver, and Singapore for travel from December 18. In the days following, services will open to LA, Tokyo, Hawaii, and Fiji. Most of these will be departing from Melbourne and Sydney, although the London flights will fly via Perth, and Brisbane will have services to Singapore and Los Angeles.
The final service to be added, as far as the current listings go, is Hawaii. Qantas will begin flying to Honolulu from Sydney as of December 20.
Flights to New Zealand are also currently on sale, with Qantas obviously assuming the Trans-Tasman bubble will be resumed before Christmas.
The news makes good on Alan Joyce’s comments last month, which promised Qantas was planning to restart international flights by December.
The Qantas website is currently accepting bookings for all these services, although there’s an obvious note that all will be “subject to government and regulatory approval.”
All of this is, currently, aligned with the roadmap towards international travel. Australia’s international travel ban was extended for a further three months at the beginning of September, and the “human biosecurity emergency period” is set to end on December 17 – a day before the Qantas December flights begin.
In case you need a reminder (you don’t), these overseas travel flights will only be open to fully vaccinated travellers, in line with policies already announced by Qantas. It’s more than likely we’ll have an easier and more seamless way to prove vaccination status by then as well, given this week Tourism Minister Dan Tehan confirmed that the federal government has begun trialling QR codes linked to passports to show an individual’s jabs.
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It is being reported that Qantas plans to resume services to cities with lower vaccination rates – like Bali, Manila, and Johannesburg – closer to April 2022.
The Qantas December flights on sale right now are as follows:
For Travel From December 18 2021
- Sydney-London
- Melbourne-London
- Sydney-Los Angeles
- Sydney-Vancouver
- Sydney-Singapore
- Melbourne-Singapore
For Travel From December 19 2021
- Melbourne-Los Angeles
- Brisbane-Los Angeles
- Sydney-Honolulu
- Brisbane-Singapore
- Sydney-Tokyo
- Sydney-Fiji
As far as prices go, don’t expect cheap flights. You’re looking at around $1,600 one-way to London and $2,300 one-way to Los Angeles right now. If you want to fly Sydney to LA return, for example, expect to pay $5,200 (leave on December 18, return December 28).
