Qantas Reopens International Bookings From July 2021

Could we be able to travel overseas this year?

In a bold move, Qantas has reopened their international ticket sales starting from 1 July this year.

The Australian airline has reopened bookings in a sign of their optimism for the COVID-19 vaccines and their roll-out to the public over the next few months.

Clearly, they think 2021 is their year.

Qantas had previously grounded all non-repatriation flights due to the coronavirus pandemic and its global spread.

They also recently suspended all bookings to the UK and the US until October but have now rescheduled flights to those destinations from July.

Qantas, babes, what world are you living in? Travel to US and UK this year? LMAOOOOOOO. No. https://t.co/AS89YakjJ7

— Asaf (@justasvf) January 4, 2021

The resumption of these flights are pretty much dependent on the fast roll-out of vaccinations in Australia and the reopening of international borders.

While the airline is allowing bookings for locations like London and Los Angeles this year, there are some destinations like Santiago and New York that Qantas is holding off on for the moment.

It is also likely that when flights resume, airlines will be running at numbers much below capacity to adhere to physical distancing guidelines.

Considering they were literally offering ‘flights to nowhere’ for domestic ‘travellers’ in September, I’m not surprised that they’re jumping on this ASAP.

"We continue to review and update our international schedule in response to the developing COVID-19 situation," the airline said in a statement.

"Recently we have aligned the selling of our international services to reflect our expectation that international travel will begin to restart from July 2021."

Back in November, Qantas boss Alan Joyce said that all international travellers who seek to fly with Qantas will need to prove that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

So, even though international flights are resuming soon, you'll probably still need the jab if you want a ticket.

Currently, New Zealand is the only international destination where Qantas has permission to fly to due to the one-way Trans-Tasman bubble.

While Qantas is optimistic about a COVID-19 vaccine, the Australian government is still yet to approve one and roll it out to the public.

As of right now, several other countries have already started rolling out the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines.

Aussies are expected to start receiving the jab in March this year, but the initial stages of the roll-out will likely go to the elderly, those considered high risk and healthcare workers.

So, it is fair to expect that most people, especially young Aussies, won’t get a vaccine until late 2021 or maybe even 2022. 

Header Image: Daniel Pockett via Getty Images