Qantas makes plea for border reopening as it warns of $1.5bn loss

Qantas has appealed to Australia’s government to reopen international borders by the end of the year, warning that the country risks being left behind as other parts of the world begin easing Covid-19 restrictions. The airline made the plea on Thursday as it forecast a more than A$2bn (US$1.5bn) loss in the 2021 financial year ending in June, hundreds more job cuts and a two-year wage freeze. But it also disclosed that it had stopped burning through cash thanks to a rebound in its domestic operations. “No one wants to lose the tremendous success we’ve had at managing Covid but rolling out the vaccine totally changes the equation,” said Alan Joyce, Qantas CE. “The risk then flips to Australia being left behind when countries like the US and UK are getting back to normal.” Canberra plans to keep Australia’s borders closed until mid-2022 even though it expects to complete its vaccination rollout by the end of the year. The country remains largely free of Covid-19 infections owing to border closures and strict hotel quarantine. But the airline industry has intensely lobbied authorities to speed up the border reopening, arguing that delays risk hampering the post-pandemic recovery. Jayne Hrdlicka, Virgin Australia chief executive, sparked controversy this week by calling for the border to reopen even if “some people may die”.<br/>