A quarter of Australian government's half-price flights sell on first day
Virgin Australia is set to record its highest number of bookings in one day since before the pandemic began, while Qantas and Jetstar recorded 130,000 bookings in under 12 hours, following the release of the federal government’s half-price flights. But the tourism industry says the boost will not be enough to fill the void left by the end of the jobkeeper payment. About a quarter of the available subsidised flights were purchased on Thursday. It comes as the Queensland government announced an early end to the Brisbane lockdown, lifting restrictions from midday on Thursday, in order to avoid traffic chaos ahead of the Easter long weekend. More than 50,000 Qantas fares and 45,000 Jetstar fares were sold in the first 11 hours of the half-off flight program, which launched on Thursday, with Maroochydore, the Gold Coast, Cairns, Adelaide, Darwin and Hobart among the most popular destinations. By 3pm they had sold a combined 130,000 flights. Virgin Australia said it was on track to record its biggest day of bookings since the coronavirus pandemic began, recording a 600% increase in flight bookings, a 600% increase in flight searches, and a tripling of website traffic compared to last week.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2021-04-02/general/a-quarter-of-australian-governments-half-price-flights-sell-on-first-day
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A quarter of Australian government's half-price flights sell on first day
Virgin Australia is set to record its highest number of bookings in one day since before the pandemic began, while Qantas and Jetstar recorded 130,000 bookings in under 12 hours, following the release of the federal government’s half-price flights. But the tourism industry says the boost will not be enough to fill the void left by the end of the jobkeeper payment. About a quarter of the available subsidised flights were purchased on Thursday. It comes as the Queensland government announced an early end to the Brisbane lockdown, lifting restrictions from midday on Thursday, in order to avoid traffic chaos ahead of the Easter long weekend. More than 50,000 Qantas fares and 45,000 Jetstar fares were sold in the first 11 hours of the half-off flight program, which launched on Thursday, with Maroochydore, the Gold Coast, Cairns, Adelaide, Darwin and Hobart among the most popular destinations. By 3pm they had sold a combined 130,000 flights. Virgin Australia said it was on track to record its biggest day of bookings since the coronavirus pandemic began, recording a 600% increase in flight bookings, a 600% increase in flight searches, and a tripling of website traffic compared to last week.<br/>
