Qantas and Jetstar to resume domestic flights this month

Qantas and Jetstar are resuming many of their domestic and regional flights as the COVID-19 risk in Australia falls.

Return flights between Melbourne and Sydney on the two air carriers are set to rise from the current 12 per week, to 67 flights per week by the end of June.

Some routes which have ceased entirely, like Melbourne to Newcastle, will also resume services and new routes, including Melbourne to Ballina Byron Bay, will begin operating.

The flights comes as the airlines move to resume more than 300 return flights per week by the end of the month, about 15 per cent of pre-coronavirus domestic capacity.

The airlines may return to up to 40 per cent of pre-crisis capacity by the end of July, if there is demand for the services.

“We are gradually adding flights in June as demand levels increase, which will go from 5 per cent of pre-crisis levels currently to 15 per cent by late June,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement.

“We can quickly ramp up flying in time for the July school holidays if border restrictions have eased more by then. Normally, we plan our capacity months in advance, but in the current climate we need to be flexible to respond to changing restrictions and demand levels.”

Qantas and Jetstar have implemented a range of new safety and hygiene measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, including contactless check-in, enhanced cleaning, and masks and sanitising wipes provided to all customers.

For all bookings made by June 30 for travel between June 12 and October 31, customers can change the date of their flights once without paying a change fee.