Qantas reopens ticket sales for international flights from July

Bloomberg

Qantas Airways Ltd has started taking bookings for international flights from July 1 in a perhaps optimistic view that by then, vaccinations will have begun to curb the spread of the coronavirus and travel demand will pick up.
Ticket sales for Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, which had been set to start in March, have been pushed back to July, while other destinations like London have been brought forward from October, Australia’s national carrier said. New Zealand is the only overseas destination to which Qantas is currently flying.
“Recently we have aligned the selling of our international services to reflect our expectation that international travel will begin to restart from July 2021,” Qantas said.
“We continue to review and update our international schedule in response to the developing Covid-19 situation.”
Although countries including Singapore, China, Israel, the US and the UK have started vaccinating their populations, Australia is yet to authorise a Covid jab and doesn’t plan to offer a shot until March. The country cancelled a local vaccine development last month after trials showed it could interfere with HIV diagnoses.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has said that a vaccine will be necessary for quarantine-free travel to resume to the US and the UK, where infections are surging. UK PM Boris Johnson ordered a third national lockdown in England starting mid-February on fears the National Health Service will be overwhelmed.
A hankering for travel among Australians has meant Qantas has been busy on the home front.