Australian carrier, Qantas Airways, has delayed the relaunch of its South African services from late October 2021 to the end of December due to the ongoing closure of Australia’s borders.
“The Federal Government has revised its anticipated timeline for the completion of Australia’s vaccine rollout to the end of 2021 and its timeline for significantly reopening international borders to mid-2022. In light of these two dates the Qantas Group will adjust its planned international flight relaunch from the end of October 2021 to late December 2021,” said the airline in a statement.
“We remain optimistic that additional bubbles will open once Australia’s vaccine rollout is complete to countries who, by then, are in a similar position, but it is difficult to predict which ones at this stage. This planning assumption allows the Qantas Group – and Australia – to be ready to take advantage of pockets of tourism and trade opportunity as they emerge in a post-Covid world,” said the airline, adding that it would keep reviewing these plans as circumstances evolved and it moved towards December.
International media reports indicate that Australia still has a long way to go to reach herd immunity and the reopening of its borders. Euronews.com recently reported that only 19% of adult Australians were fully vaccinated. “While there are ample supplies of locally manufactured AstraZeneca, many Australians are concerned about the slight risk of blood clots associated with the vaccine and are instead requesting Pfizer, the only alternative registered in Australia,” reported the publication.
The existing bubble between Australia and New Zealand was suspended last month when infection numbers rose, but it appears that more bubbles are on the horizon. Media reports indicate that Singapore will be next on the list. According to Bloomberg there is a “firm commitment” to launch a quarantine-free travel bubble with Singapore by the end of the year. There is, at this stage, no public mention of where South Africa would fall in this rollout.
Agents report that Qantas has now loaded flights between Johannesburg and Sydney from December 20 onwards, but without an official reopening date of the border to South Africans by the Australian government, it is unclear if these flights will actually take place.
“Our Johannesburg-Sydney flight has been pushed out from October to December, as the borders remain closed. We continue to monitor the system and to update as necessary. It is still unclear when borders will fully reopen,” said regional manager Africa for Qantas Airways, Michi Messner.
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