Qantas says Australian state border closures hampering recovery, posts $1.4b loss

Qantas said state border closures were severely hampering a recovery in the domestic aviation market, which, alongside its lack of international flying, would lead to a significant loss this financial year. The airline on Thursday posted a full-year net loss of A$1.964b ($1.41b) for the 12 months that ended June 30, one of its largest ever, driven by impairment charges and restructuring costs meant to help it weather the coronavirus pandemic. CE Alan Joyce said that trading conditions were the worst in the airline’s 100-year history and that a national framework on when states could open borders was needed to boost domestic flying. He said it made sense to lock down in Victoria, which has the nation’s highest case count, but not to ban travel between places like Western Australia and South Australia, which are reporting no community tranmission of COVID-19. “We’re not saying, ‘open the borders’ blankly,” Joyce said. “We’re saying, ‘Let’s have the rules to say what would you have to see in order for those borders to be open.’” The airline is running only 20% of its usual domestic schedule in August, but he said that could increase to more than 75% if all state borders reopened before international ones. Most international flying is unlikely to resume until a vaccine is widely distributed, which might occur in mid- to late 2021, Joyce said.<br/>