Australia, which has some of the world’s most restrictive COVID-related entering and exiting requirements, has extended its nearly complete ban on citizens leaving the country.
This policy was put in place in March 2020 and will now last at least 12 months with many expecting it to be further extended for an additional three months in the spring. As a result, international airline services will remain limited.
The airlines that had the most potential for being affected by this extension were Australia’s largest, Qantas and Virgin Australia.
However, Qantas had already planned to not resume its international services until the middle of 2021, and Virgin Australia is not expecting to make any significant service increases until 2022. As a result, they will both continue to focus their efforts on domestic flights.
However, the few who are looking to enter or leave Australia and are able to do so still have options.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are operating flights between Los Angeles and Sydney, United has flights between San Francisco and Sydney as well, and Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways, Emirates and Qatar Airways are connecting Australia with New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
The current Covid situation in Australia is revered by much of the world. The country of 26 million has just 49 active cases, a significant reduction from earlier infection rates, which led to moves such as the closure of states’ borders and drastic reductions in movement allowed within those states.
Those lockdowns, the extensive use of contact tracing and how closed off Australia is from the rest of the world have all helped.
However, the country is remaining cautious and vigilant as those there know how easily this virus can take hold and then spread exponentially.
Aussies are also planning to see how the vaccines that are being injected into people’s arms elsewhere go before taking advantage of those themselves.
Meanwhile, internal border restrictions continue to be removed. For example, Western Australia reopened its borders with New South Wales and Victoria on Dec. 8 and with South Australia on Dec. 10.