oneworld

Qantas plans to insist that passengers on international flights have been vaccinated against Covid-19 before boarding its planes once any jab is rolled out. Alan Joyce, the Australian airline’s chief executive, said he thought a vaccine would become “a necessity” for international travel. “We are looking at changing our terms and conditions to say for international travellers, we will ask people to have a vaccination before they can get on the aircraft,” Joyce said. “I think that’s going to be a common thing talking to my colleagues in other airlines around the globe,” he added. Qantas is the first big airline to publicly raise the possibility of refusing travel to passengers who have not been vaccinated. The pandemic prompted Australia to close its borders to non-residents, and Qantas has suspended all international flights except for a skeleton schedule to New Zealand. The company does not expect to reopen most of them until the middle of next year. Vaccine breakthroughs in the past two weeks have raised hopes that international travel could start to recover in 2021 but they have also provoked questions about how the health status of would-be passengers will be verified. David Powell, medical adviser to airline industry body Iata, said it was “a really strong possibility” that countries would start to demand proof of health status from travellers, particularly in areas with low prevalence of the virus such as Australia.<br/>

Holidays abroad could soon be on the cards, with a New Zealand 'travel bubble' likely to be announced early in the new year, according to the CEO of Qantas. Alan Joyce said Qantas is preparing for borders between the two neighbours to reopen in the first few months of 2021. "We've always believed in the possibility of these 'bubbles' between nations," he said. "At the way we're going in Australia, New Zealand could open in the early new year in both directions – that's a massive market for everybody." While Kiwis are currently permitted to travel to the states of New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory, New Zealand's strict quarantine rules mean they must isolate at a designated hotel for 14 days at a cost of up to $NZ3,100 ($A2,945) per person upon return, while Australian holidaymakers are barred from entering the country. Previous attempts to create a Trans-Tasman travel bubble began in May, with politicians on both sides targetting a new travel arrangement by Christmas 2020. But plans were scuppered after several Australian states saw the number of Covid-19 cases spike over winter, while New Zealand, pursuing a strategy to eliminate the virus completely, tightened its border controls. Now, the imminent rollout of a new vaccine has reignited hopes that both countries will soon be able to resume international travel, with long-haul trips now a prospect for the second half of next year. Qantas is confident that this will be the case, and is now working on plans to bring its larger planes out of storage in preparation for when restrictions are lifted.<br/>

BA has begun selling the champagne flutes, fine china and slippers it uses in its first-class cabins, reflecting the impact of Covid-19 on its business as it operates a reduced fleet. The bespoke items, which have been mothballed in storage because of the pandemic, are a mixture of new and secondhand, some of which have circled the globe hundreds of times in the airline’s premium First Class and Club World cabins. The unusual move comes as coronavirus continues to batter the airline sector, and just a month after BA’s owner, AG, slashed its flight schedule for the rest of the year and posted a E1.3b loss for Q3. As a consequence, BA has found that some of its inflight crockery and glassware is surplus to requirements. There is also an inventory pile-up caused by fewer flights, and therefore fewer breakages. Customers and collectors are being invited to buy items such as William Edwards plates, soup bowls, cups and saucers, all introduced on planes only 18 months ago. BA said the sale allowed buyers to create what the airline called an “authentic first-class flying experience at home over the festive period”. Day blankets – a snip at £9 – have already sold out, although Club World slippers used on flights to and from east and south-east Asia fare still for sale at GBP10. Also available are bespoke metal bread baskets, champagne flutes, coasters and even a Club World casserole dish. However, Alice Temperley-designed amenity kits and first-class pyjamas are excluded from the sale.<br/>

Qatar Airways has unveiled a specially-branded Boeing 777 aircraft painted in FIFA World Cup livery to mark the beginning of a two year countdown until the tournament kicks off in Qatar in November, 2022. The bespoke aircraft which features the distinctive FIFA branding was hand-painted to celebrate the airline's partnership with FIFA. Qatar Airways plans to paint more of its fleet with the FIFA World Cup Qatar livery and these aircraft will visit several of the airline's destinations around the world, potentially including New Zealand. The Boeing 777-300ER will enter service on November 21 operating flights QR095 and QR096 between Doha and Zurich. <br/>