
Australia’s premier airline says the reopening of state borders is assisting in the company’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
The major airline’s chief executive Alan Joyce said since the reopening of the Queensland border with Victoria and NSW, close to 200,000 fares have been sold in the past 72 hours, bringing domestic capacity to 70 per cent of pre COVID-19 levels.
“Overall, we’re optimistic about the recovery but we’re also cautious given the various unknowns,” Mr Joyce said.
“We also have a lot of repair work to do on our balance sheet from the extra debt we’ve taken on to get through the past nine months.”
Mr Joyce also noted advanced bookings are on the rise; however, the continued grounding of international flights would impact the company’s revenue streams.
Camera IconQantas chief executive Alan Joyce said since the reopening of the Queensland border with Victoria and NSW, close to 200,000 fares had been sold in the past 72 hours. Credit: News Corp Australia, NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone
“Overall, the group is still a long way off anything approaching normal,” Mr Joyce said.
“International travel is likely to be at a virtual standstill until at least July next year, and it will take years to fully recover, which means we’re carrying the overhead for billions of dollars worth of aircraft in the meantime.”
From -