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Most Qantas domestic flights back by February

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Qantas boss Alan Joyce reaffirmed the airline will be carbon neutral by 2050.
Camera IconQantas boss Alan Joyce reaffirmed the airline will be carbon neutral by 2050. Credit: AAP

Qantas boss Alan Joyce expects the group will have domestic flight capacity back at pre-pandemic levels early in the new year as more states and territories allow visitors.

Mr Joyce on Thursday gave details of plans for more flights as Australia better controls the coronavirus with a vaccinated population.

“It looks like by Christmas we will have every state open except for Western Australia, and Western Australia will open up domestically hopefully early in the new year, we assume around February,” he told a Flight Centre Travel Group conference.

Queensland leaders this week gave good news to holiday-makers. Fully-vaccinated visitors will be able to enter the state without undergoing quarantine from December 17 at the latest.

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Meanwhile, the number of flights on one of Qantas’ busiest routes, Sydney to Melbourne, will increase soon.

The carrier has one daily flight from Sydney to Melbourne as Melburnians endure their last day of lockdown. There were 55 daily Qantas flights from Sydney to Melbourne before the pandemic.

Mr Joyce said there would be almost 15 flights in the first week of November.

At the same time, the airline will re-open 35 domestic lounges across Australia.

Sydney to Melbourne daily flights were projected to increase to about 30 to 40 by Christmas.

The airline boss expected this route would be close to its pre-COVID schedule by February, helped by the return of business travel.

For overseas travel, the carrier has brought forward flights to London and Los Angeles after NSW allowed quarantine-free international travel from November 1.

Flights to Canada, Singapore and Tokyo would be available for Christmas, Mr Joyce said.

About 10,000 Qantas employees remain stood down from work due to low travel demand.

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