Qantas and Jetstar announced today they will cut international flights by 90 per cent and domestic flights by 60 percent from the end of March in response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Coronavirus flight cancellations will come as no surprise to those who have been monitoring the COVID-19 situation. Naturally, significant drops in international and domestic travel as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic are to be expected, but they are hitting the travel industry hard. And today, Australian airlines Qantas and Jetstar have announced large cuts to their domestic and international flight schedules.
Australia’s current quarantine measures, which include mandatory 14 day self-isolation for everyone who is returning from overseas travel, along with the ongoing spread of coronavirus globally are, quite naturally, sharply reducing the demand for international travel.
In a statement, the company said it would be phasing in reductions to the total group international capacity from March 2020 onwards. This will cut the total number of flights by around 90 per cent until at least the end of May.
They are also cutting the total number of domestic flights by around 60 per cent until the end of May 2020.
All up, these cuts represent a grounding of approximately 150 aircraft, including all of Qantas and Jetstar’s wide body fleet.
“Travel demand is unlikely to rebound for weeks or possibly months and the impact of this will be felt across the entire workforce of 30,000 people,” said the company.
Despite the cuts, the 100-year-old Australian carrier acknowledged their ongoing critical role in transporting people across crucial international and domestic routes and reiterated their ongoing commitment to maintaining these routes during the coronavirus pandemic.
Qantas and Jetstar have issued a booking waiver for those customers who wish to suspend their travel plans due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Customers with existing domestic or international flight bookings until May 21st 2020 who no longer wish to travel may cancel their flights and retain a travel voucher to the value of the booking. This applies to bookings made from 10 March 2020 until 31 March 2020 for travel before 31 May 2020.
To access this offer, customers are encouraged to avoid call centres, as longer than normal wait times are expected. Qantas customers can visit the manage booking page on the Qantas site, select ‘Cancel’ and then ‘Voucher’. Jetstar customers can go via the manage my booking page on the Jetstar site.
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