Regular flights have restarted between Melbourne and Sydney after four
months of border closures due to Covid.
Qantas and Jetstar are today operating 17 return flights between the two
cities, a route which is normally flown by almost 10 million people every year,
making it the third busiest in the world, after Seoul-Jeju in South Korea and Sapporo-Tokyo in Japan.
Travel from Victoria, of which Melbourne is the state capital,
has been subject to quarantine since July.
Qantas group CEO Alan Joyce said: “After a very tough year for a lot of people, this is a big milestone
in Australia opening back up... the Melbourne to Sydney route is normally the
busiest on our network. During lockdown, it was down to just one flight a day.
“We’re still a long way off having it back to full strength, but the sharp
rebound in travel demand we’re seeing gives us a lot of confidence."
Qantas has also announced that it will extend the frequent flyer status
of hundreds of thousands of its members for another 12 months if they book a
Qantas flight between now and their current tier expiry date for travel until
the end of 2021.
The extension is in addition to the automatic 12-month
extension that was provided at the start of the pandemic.