Qantas and Jetstar Return Add New Flights After State Border Opens

Qantas axes overseas flights until October. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Qantas and Jetstar will operate thousands of flights over the summer that will fly to and from Melbourne and some of Victoria's regional centres after New South Wales decided to open its borders.

The flights will commence from Nov. 23, with both Qantas and Jetstar operating more than 250 flights per week across five routes between the two states. Due to the border closure, the airlines had only been operating ten flights per week between Melbourne and Sydney.

The airline said they would add more flights if there is a demand.

Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David expects that many people will be looking forward to reuniting with family and friends after being apart for months due to the border closures.

“This is fantastic news. We’ve added thousands more flights back into our schedule today which will see Melbourne-Sydney once again become the busiest air route in Australia," David said in a media release on Thursday.

“It’s also great for businesses, and great for getting more of our planes in the air and more of our people back to work," he said.

Qantas and Jetstar plan to operate more than 100 flights per day between New South Wales and Victoria.

Qantas Group flights between NSW and VIC from 23 November 2020.

The Melbourne to Sydney routes was the busiest air route in Australia and the second most active in the world before the lockdowns induced by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus.

“When you consider the social and economic impact of border closures, we’ve always said things should open up as soon as it’s safe to do so," David said.

"New South Wales has led the way in taking a sensible, risk-based approach to borders that’s supported by what is probably one of the best contact tracing programs in the world."

Andrews congratulated NSW for opening its borders and lamented the Queensland and Western Australian government's decision to keep their borders closed.  are unfortunately taking a different approach, which doesn’t seem based on a realistic assessment of risk.”