Qantas Mildura-Sydney flights set for NSW border reopening

QANTAS will begin flights between Mildura and Sydney on November 23 when New South Wales relaxes its border restrictions with Victoria.

The airline will operate four weekly return flights from Mildura to the NSW capital from $229 one-way.

Qantas also announced this week it would operate 75 return flights between Melbourne and Sydney (from $199 one way) once the borders opened and resume the five-weekly return flights between Bendigo and Sydney (from $199) from December 7.

Jetstar will also fly between Melbourne and Sydney with 42 return flights (from $99 one-way) from November 23.

Both carriers said they would look to add more flights if there was sufficient demand.

The additional flights will increase the Qantas Group’s overall domestic capacity from about 30 per cent of pre-COVID levels to just under 40 per cent from late November, with more aircraft “woken up” and more employees returning to work to support the additional flying.

Victoria yesterday recorded its sixth day of no new coronavirus cases or deaths.

Mildura Airport chair Peter O’Donnell told Sunraysia Daily last week that the airport would be “ready to go” once states opened to new arrivals.

Mr O’Donnell said the airport was ready to meet the additional demand that was expected on the Mildura-Melbourne route.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Qantas and Jetstar have introduced a number of initiatives to help customers book with greater flexibility, including allowing a flight to be moved free of charge, as well as introducing additional health and safety measures.

Qantas Domestic and International chief executive Andrew David said the new measures were “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.

“November 23 will be a day many people will now be looking forward to,” Mr David said.

“It’s exciting for the family and friends who can finally be reunited after months apart.

“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.”

Before COVID-19, Melbourne-Sydney was the busiest air route in Australia and the second-busiest in the world.

On a busy day, Qantas and Jetstar operated more than 100 flights per day between New South Wales and Victoria, but during the lockdown that schedule fell as low as one flight a day.

“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,” he said.

“It’s great to see New South Wales and Victoria working together on what is a national issue.

“Queensland and Western Australia are unfortunately taking a different approach, which doesn’t seem based on a realistic assessment of risk.”