travel is in our blood. Not being able to fly away to our next new much-loved location feels so alien to us all. however are things set to change? as well as if so, exactly how risk-free is it to fly? We hear from Alan Joyce – head of Qantas about what air travel now as well as in the near future looks like.

Going to the airport, boarding a airplane as well as waiting on the destination to find to us is so much part of our typical life.

Or it was.

Over the past few months, the long-haul has been sitting at house wondering when the next seat back will descend into our single-serve dinners.

All the things that utilized to annoy us – the drudgery of flight terminal ziplocks, the decimal maths of currency exchange, the dismal twilight of jetlag recovery…

What I wouldn’t provide for all of these things now.

But maybe those things aren’t so far away. From the flight industry’s perspective, things are – reason the pun – on the up.

Recently, CEO & Managing director of Qantas, Alan Joyce spoke with Pip Harrison, MD of tourism Australia at an market webinar.

And what they had to state was far a lot more positive than what we people yearning for faraway locations have been feeling of late.

How risk-free is it to fly?

What I’d believe is the greatest concern in everyone’s mind is whether getting on a airplane – a extremely enclosed area with recycled air as well as great deals of difficult ‘contaminatable’ surfaces – is a great concept with a virus as extensive as well as hazardous as Covid.

Also, with whatever altering so quickly, exactly how do we understand we’ll be able to recuperate any type of lost money from flights that have experienced at the hands of a unexpected surge in infection rates?

Probably the most fascinating as well as heart-warming info from Alan Joyce on this was that of the numerous countless people who have flown considering that the Covid-19 pandemic started, there hasn’t been a single person-to-person transmission.

Joyce puts it down to the special landscape of aircraft:

For a start, everyone’s dealing with the exact same way, which cuts down infection rates directly away. likewise the cabin air is refreshed every five minutes as well as flows with medical-grade filters. significantly, the air circulates from top to bottom – away from your deal with as well as mouth.

And besides the new cleaning protocols lots of airlines have now put in place, Qantas is likewise making deal with masks, hand sanitiser as well as alcohol wipes offered to all passengers.

This is part of the new Fly Well programme Qantas has initiated, which likewise focuses on versatility of bookings must anything occur to the flight you’ve paid for.

Where can we fly?

In a word: ‘here’.

We’re all checking out where we can go as well as what we can do, as well as thankfully, Australia is packed with extraordinary travel experiences. Our ideas on travel in NSW as well as short trips from Melbourne spell that out. 

And Qantas’ pricing for short domestic flights makes ‘backyard travel’ even a lot more enticing:

Alan Joyce even hinted at a possible $19 cost for Sydney-Melbourne, which would definitely quench demand when borders all open.

But for now, intra-state flights are in the Qantas crosshairs – the bead settling on routes like Sydney-Ballina ($39), Brisbane-Cairns ($69) as well as Perth-Broome.

Down the line, as things like travel bubbles type as well as the much hoped-for vaccine develops, Qantas will prioritise bringing back worldwide flights utilizing their smaller 787 as well as 330 planes first.

When risk-free to do so, flights to Chicago as well as Dallas – new direct routes Qantas started earlier this year – will start, complied with by the UK, then Asia.

The ultra-long-haul services flying direct to the UK as well as us as part of job Sunrise will no question likewise be in demand when we can all travel internationally again.

So flying is risk-free as well as borders are opening, however who wishes to fly?

According to Joyce, demand is huge: “98% of regular flyers want to travel in the next 12 months”, as well as 50-60% of Qantas’ regular flyers state that NZ is a viable destination as as well as when travel there opens up.

And if there’s any type of question as to prospective numbers, Alan Joyce painted this photo of exactly how Australians truly do like to travel:

“Pre-Covid, our outbound tourism was approximately the exact same size as our inbound tourists coming in. The outbound tourists… would have gone overseas, now they’re checking out where they’ll travel. as well as I believe destinations like Cairns, like Broome, will be of immense rate of interest to people.”

What has been the damage to the air industry?

With over half of all the world’s aircraft grounded, as well as 220 Qantas planes currently out of service, things have never looked as bleak for the industry.

This is – in a horrible method – great news for us. Airfares are set to be low when the world comes back on the internet to assist with the boggling money shed the market is suffering.

The bigger European airlines have a money shed of $300-400 million… per week, while us carriers are enjoying around $800m p/w go down the drain.

By comparison, Qantas has a $40 million per week shed to offer with, however it’s no question they want to get planes up in the air again.

In fact, Qantas has moved from 5% to 15% capability of their domestic flights as well as are checking out getting to about 40% by July.

It’s no understatement that this dilemma has been crippling for the industry. It’s exceptional that there are any type of airlines still running.

Travel is still an choice – particularly for Australia.

With luck as well as caution, we’ll be seeing worldwide tourism come back to life soon. In the meantime, checking out Australia is your finest option. There’s so much to see in this gorgeous country.

If you’re not sure if travel in your own specify is risk-free or allowed, inspect out the interactive tourism Australia travel map, which keeps you as much as date with travel prospects as well as safety.