Qantas has confirmed 12 international routes will return by January

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With Victoria now joining New South Wales in saying said that it plans to open up to vaccinated visitors from 1 November with no quarantine requirements, and with the Australian government under increasing pressure to open up its borders to international travelers, Qantas is pushing forward with getting its global route network restored and it has now confirmed the international routes that it will start/restart in the coming months.

Note: Keep in mind that initially, inbound flights to Australia are limited to Australian citizens, permanent residents, and their immediate families, and certain visa holders (more details here). Australia is not ready to welcome the rest of the world just yet.

Qantas Routes Reboots November 2021 – January 2022

Africa

• Sydney – Johannesburg commencing 5 January 2022 – 3x/week A330-300 (Wed, Fri & Sun)

Asia

• Melbourne – Singapore commencing 22 November 2021 – 3x/week A330-300 (Thu, Fri & Sun) then daily from 18 Dec.
• Sydney – Singapore commencing 23 November 2021 – 3x/week A330-300 (Thu, Fri & Sun)
• Sydney – Delhi commencing 6 December 2021^ – 3x/week A330-200 (Mon, Thu & Sat) **New Route**
• Sydney – Tokyo Haneda commencing 19 December 2021 – 4x/week A330-300 (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun)
• Sydney – Bangkok commencing 14 January 2021 – 5x/week A330-300 (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun)

^This route will be flown via Darwin on the outbound journey and non-stop on the inbound journey

Europe

• Sydney – London Heathrow commencing 1 November 2021 – 5x/week 787-9 (Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, & Sun)
• Melbourne – London Heathrow commencing 6 November 2021 – 787-9 (Daily from 18 Dec)

This route will fly via Darwin and not via Perth as it did pre-pandemic.

North America

• Sydney – Los Angeles commencing 1 November 2021 – 3x/week 787-9 (Wed, Fri & Sat) – click for more details.
• Sydney – Vancouver commencing 18 December 2021 – 3x/week 787-9 (Mon, Thu & Sat)
• Sydney – Honolulu commencing 20 December 2021 – 4x/week A330-300 (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat)

Pacific

• Sydney – Nadi (Fiji) commencing 7 December 2021 – 4x/week 737-800 (Tue, Fri, Sat & Sun)

Note: Schedules can and do change (especially during a pandemic) so check your flight details with Qantas frequently to ensure you’re not caught out by a change in flight times.

Qantas has said that more routes may be added and that it will be regularly updating information on the destinations it is flying to, including start dates for other routes on its international network page.

Key Travel Requirements

All passengers on Qantas international flights (aged 12 years and older) will be required to be fully vaccinated with a TGA-approved or recognized vaccine (unless they have an exemption).

As part of the Australian Government requirements, customers on these flights will also be required to return a negative COVID-19 test result from an approved PCR testing site 72 hours prior to departure.

The Victorian Government requires all passengers traveling to Victoria to take a COVID test within 24 hours of arriving.

From 1 November, the New South Wales Government will remove quarantine requirements for international arrivals who are fully vaccinated with a TGA-approved vaccine. Qantas says that more information about testing requirements on arrival into New South Wales will be provided once those details have been announced.

Bottom Line

We already knew that Qantas would bring back its LA and London routes on 1 November but now we’re seeing the airline moving quickly to get more of its international network back up and running as soon as guidance and laws permit.

This post started out with the headline that 10 international routes were returning by January, but then Victoria announced that it was following NSW and removing travel restrictions and Qantas immediately brought forward its Melbourne route reboots.

We can probably expect more routed to be rebooted in the coming days and weeks as other states feel the pressure to drop their restrictions too.