Qantas budgets for overseas travel restart in October

Australian national airline Qantas Airways is working towards air travel to international destinations from Australia resuming by the end of October as the federal government lifts Covid-19 restrictions. This is three months later than the guidance it gave in August.

"The working assumption for international travel to restart has moved to the end of October 2021, with the exception of a material increase in trans-Tasman flying scheduled for July 2021," Qantas said.

International flights from Australia account for the largest share of the country's total jet fuel consumption, with international capacity currently at about 8pc of pre-Covid-19 levels. But domestic air travel in Australia is slowing recovering towards pre-Covid-19 levels, with the airline's domestic capacity expected to increase to 60pc of pre-Covid-19 levels in the January-March 2021 quarter and 80pc for April-June.

The reduced flying activity led to an 85pc fall in fuel costs in the first half of the 2020-21 fiscal year from a year earlier. Fuel costs for 2020-21 are expected to be lower than the A$2.9bn in 2019-20.

Qantas has also increased its share of domestic air travel to around 70pc from around 60pc pre-Covid-19 levels. This hit smaller airlines such as Qantas' main domestic competitor Virgin Airlines, which went into administration last year and was ultimately sold to private equity owners.

By Kevin Morrison