According to the plan, 80 percent of the approximately 25 million inhabitants of Australia should be fully vaccinated by December, Qantas announced on Thursday. The airline will then initially fly to countries with high vaccination rates.
Flights to places with low vaccination rates and high numbers of infections, on the other hand, should not be resumed until April 2022. “The prospect of overseas flights may seem a long way off right now, especially with the states of New South Wales and Victoria in lockdown. But the current pace of the vaccination campaign suggests that we should have a lot more freedom in a few months, ”said Qantas boss Alan Joyce.
Last week, Qantas announced mandatory vaccinations for all employees. There should be exceptions for people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.
Qantas was founded in 1920 and is one of the oldest continuously operating airlines in the world. Before the pandemic, the airline carried 50 million passengers around the world every year. Australia’s international borders have been closed since March 2020, with a few exceptions.