SYDNEY, 16 July 2020: Looking forward to Quarter 1 2021, Qantas has cut most international flights from its advance timetable, a CNBC report claimed Wednesday.
It doesn’t come as a surprise as the airline’s management had earlier said international flights would not probably resume until 2021 without giving further details.
The CNBC reports said, “Qantas has removed the inventory for nearly all of its international flights until March of 2021, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter air travel.”
Earlier in April, the airline reported it would retire six Boeing 747 planes six months ahead of their planned decommissioning. It is also cutting staff by at least 20%.
The report said the Australian flagship carrier would only maintain a few flights to New Zealand once they are back in the air in mid-August.
Conde Nast Traveler wrote earlier this week that the airline removed all of its international inventory on global distribution systems. It means flights through the first quarter of 2021 to 31 March are no longer bookable.
However, even in good times, airlines adjust timetables tweaking and even dropping flights that are not achieving booking targets. Advance schedules filed with the main booking systems are not set in stone. But it is indicative of the fears that the second wave now hitting Australia could push back recovery phase until the end of the winter timetable 31 March.
Qantas in March announced the suspension of all international flights until October and then again to the end of the year.
Qantas Airways CEO, told Australian media in June that he doesn’t see a substantial restart in airline services until around July of next year.
(Source: CNBC and additional reporting)
