Qantas has announced it will restart international flights two weeks earlier than planned after announcements by the NSW and Federal governments today.
Australia's international carrier said it will operate up to five return flights a week from Sydney to London, and up to four return flights a week from Sydney to Los Angeles with its Boeing 787 Dreamliners from November 1.
More flights will be added to meet demand if needed, Qantas said in a press release.
The first flights are limited to Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families and parents, following Prime Minister Scott Morrison's announcement today that international visitors would remain restricted from entering the country for now.
Qantas has announced it will restart international flights two weeks earlier than planned, with the first flights limited to Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families and parents
Passengers who had already booked to travel to and from Los Angeles or London and want to travel earlier are able to make a fee-free date change to their flight on the Qantas site, the airline added.
Flights to other destinations including Singapore, Fiji and Vancouver are still scheduled to commence from 18 December 2021, with other destinations to restart in the new year.
Qantas said the removal of quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated travelers arriving in New South Wales meant it might bring forward some additional destinations from Sydney if possible.
Excited Aussies are already scrambling to book flights after NSW announced it will become the first state in the country to end quarantine.
In a press conference on Friday morning NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced that arrival caps as well any type of quarantine for vaccinated Australians and foreigners flying into Sydney would be scrapped in two weeks.
Mr Perrottet's declaration that NSW was 'opening up for business' has been much-needed news to international airlines as it promises to boost business with about 6000-seats-a-day available to bring travellers into Sydney airport.
Delighted Australians have also fired up their social media accounts to praise the state for leading the nation's efforts to climb out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A raft of new freedoms will be restored across NSW from next week as the state nears its 80 per cent double dose vaccination target. Pictured: Woman pose for a photo in Sydney on Tuesday after the state exited lockdown
'NSW taking one for the team. Every other state will learn from your endeavours,' one person wrote.
'Quarantine is dead, buried and cremated for vaccinated, covid-negative travellers from November 1st. Good. F***ing. Riddance,' someone else Tweeted.
'Great to see! A step towards opening the whole of Australia to travellers,' another added.
Some said they had already booked flights overseas to go on holidays and reunite with loved ones.
'Booked flights to see my mum in the UK!' 9News journalist Sarah Swain tweeted.
'Not until Jan as was not keen to join the Xmas rush/ in case it didn't happen.'
'This is literally the best news all year. Hurts me to say it but NSW is putting the rest of the country to shame! Already have my flights booked to Europe in December!' another man wrote.
'Finally some common sense after 18 months!'
But other Australians were less impressed, fearing reopening borders would leave immuno-compromised and unvaccinated residents vulnerable to catching Covid-19.
'Madness. Against all sensible medical advice. December death toll will be horrendous,' one person wrote.
'Does the NSW Premier know that at 80 per cent of over 16s vaccinated there are still over 2.5million people unvaccinated in NSW alone?' another Tweeted.
'NSW has abandoned any pretense of following medical advice regarding Covid. As a Sydneysider, I find this horrifying. I fear the impact on the vulnerable,' a third said.
The move blindsided Prime Minister Morrison - who hadn't fronted the cameras in eight days - and forced him to emerge from Kirribilli House to clarify that Australia's borders will not yet open to tourists.
'Hotel quarantine is a thing of the past. We are opening Sydney and New South Wales to the world, and that date will come in on November 1st,' NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Friday
'All we are talking about now is Australian citizens, residents and their immediate families, which will be looking to extend to the parents of those Australian citizens and residents,' he said.
'We are not opening up to everyone coming back to Australia at the moment. I want to be clear about that.
'We will take this forward in a staged way as we have done in all these things.
'It is for the Commonwealth and Federal Government to decide when to the border opens it shut at an international level and we will do that.
'In the first instance it will be for Australian residents and their families.
'We will see how that goes and then we will be to other priorities set out as being skilled migration as well as students to Australia and then we will move onto challenge of dealing with international visitors to Australia.'
NSW will not enforce any quarantine at all on vaccinated arrivals from November 1. Pictured: Sydney Airport in December
Before Friday, NSW had been planning a seven-day home-quarantine system - but this has been scrapped after a trial showed it used up too many resources to police.
Mr Morrison admitted that the first he heard of NSW's plan to scrap quarantine altogether was when the premier announced it on Friday morning.
'I've written to the premiers and chief ministers earlier this week asking them to confirm the arrangements they would have... the premier wrote back to me today and confirmed that would be on the 1 November and under those no quarantine arrangements for vaccinated Australians,' he said.
Australia's international border has been closed since March 2020 to reduce the spread of coronavirus - and no date has been set for a re-opening.
The national re-opening plan agreed by all states and territories in August states that once 80 per cent of over 16s are vaccinated then there will be a 'gradual opening of inward and outward travel with safe countries'.
Overseas arrival limits will be scrapped for the fully-vaccinated, while only 210 unvaccinated travellers will be permitted into NSW a week from November 1
The travel announcement came as Mr Perrottet eased more restrictions.
From the beginning of next month, bookings for hospitality venues will no longer be capped and people entering the state will be able to sidestep mandatory isolation if they can provide proof of vaccination and submit a PCR Covid test.
Overseas arrivals caps will also be lifted for those fully-vaccinated with a TGA-approved jab.
Unvaccinated inbound travellers will be capped at 210 people per week and will have to undergo mandatory quarantine.
Greater Sydney residents will also be free to travel to the regions from November 1, when it's expected more than 77 per cent of regional LGAs will be fully-vaccinated.
While many are excited by the prospective of travel, Board of Airline Representatives of Australia executive director Barry Abrams said a few issues would need to be addressed before international trips resume.
'The first key issue that needs to be resolved as soon as possible, is how the airlines are going to verify the vaccination status of inbound and outbound passengers,' he said, the Daily Telegraph reports.
'Airlines have been having a number of good discussions with government agencies but we would like to see this sorted urgently.'
Delighted Aussies flocked online to share their excitement about the changes coming into effect from November 1
One woman from Queensland said she was happy to hear about the freedoms in NSW
However, others were less impressed the NSW Government decision to completely scrap quarantine for the fully-vaccinated
Mr Abrams said further clarification is also needed about how
