COVID-19: Where can we fly to from Australia and when?

With the so-called road-map to tackle COVID-19 restrictions, Australians in some states are only 3 months away from being able to get back on an international flight without having to seek the government’s permission.

This list has lots and lots of caveats. For a start, we don’t know if Scovid, our Prime Minister will open all states, or whether each state will get to decide on when they will open their borders.

So the obvious question is: who’s flying where, and when can we go?

Qantas

The Australian based international carrier (none of this ‘national airline’ crap thank you very much) is planning on re-commencing scheduled passenger services (they have already been flying for repatriation and cargo flights throughout the pandemic) on December 18. Here are their routes in starting date order:

• Melbourne-London (December 18)
• Melbourne-Singapore (December 18)
• Sydney-London (December 18)
• Sydney-Los Angeles (December 18)
• Sydney-Vancouver (December 18)
• Sydney-Singapore (December 18)
• Brisbane-Los Angeles (December 19)
• Brisbane-Singapore (December 19)
• Melbourne-Los Angeles (December 19)
• Sydney-Fiji (December 19)
• Sydney-Honolulu (December 20)
• Sydney-Tokyo (December 19)

None of these initial flights will come cheap, whether you are using points or dollars.

Most of these are to be expected, but the routes in bold are new – or were previously seasonal (Sydney-Vancouver)

Air Canada

They are recommencing flying to Australia on 15 December 2021, with the first flight out of Sydney on 17 December. You’ll enjoy wifi and reverse herringbone seats in business class on their B777-200LR, at a cost, one way of about AU$7,000, or in Economy, AU$1,733

Singapore Airlines

Oddly, just when others (see above) are announcing the recommencement of flights to Australia, Singapore is cancelling flights all over the place to the antipodes on the grounds of ‘uncertainty’. About a minute ago, we were talking about a quarantine free corridor. Now it’s all ‘too much uncertainty’ and ‘capacity caps are too tight for us to make it economical’

Could all this pull out have more to do with the rising COVID-10 infections in the island state? I’m just asking.

Having uncertainty about passenger loads, and who will accept your flights changing daily, is no joke, and a good reason to be suspending flights, it’s just strange this is happening now after Sydney has been in lockdown for more than 2 months.

Other Airlines

There are plenty of other airlines still flying into Australia and although they mainly carry freight, they have passenger capacity. They have kept flying here during the pandemic, with largely unfulfilled passenger capacity. That capacity can be taken up once the Australian travel floodgates open.

• Air Niugini
• All Nippon Airways
• Asiana Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• China Airlines
• China Eastern
• China Southern
• Delta Air Lines
• Emirates
• Etihad Airways
• EVA Air
• Garuda Indonesia
• Japan Airlines
• Korean Air
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qatar Airways
• Scoot
• Singapore Airlines
• Sri Lankan Airlines
• Thai Airways
• United Airlines
• Xiamen Air

(Thanks to Australian Frequent Flyer for the list)

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Of course, this is all speculation really, because we (OK, I) am so eager to fly – anywhere that involves two aisles, a passport, a COVID-19 Vaccination certificate, and preferably somewhere that doesn’t speak Australian English!

I can dream can’t I?