Qantas has brought forward the restart of flights from Melbourne and Sydney to destinations including London, Singapore, Bangkok and Johannesburg as Australia’s two biggest states prepare to reopen for international travel.
Qantas said that the reopening of state and international borders in the coming months meant all 11,000 employees who remain stood down would be back at work in December – something not expected until June next year.
Anticipating a faster recovery in travel demand, Qantas said it will bring two of its Airbus A380s out of deep storage in the Mojave Desert to operate on flights to Los Angeles from April 2022.
Another three will return to service from November 2022, and the remaining five will return in early 2024.
Qantas had intended to leave its superjumbos in storage until the end of 2023, and in August said five would return from mid-2022.