Qantas international flights to US expected to resume in December

Qantas planes sit idle at Melbourne Airport on August 26, 2021 as Australian airline Qantas posted $1.7 billion in annual losses, after what it described as a "diabolical" year caused by pandemic travel restrictions.

CANBERRA, Australia — Qantas Group posted a $1.7 billion (AU$2.35 billion) pandemic-related annual loss on Thursday and forecast Australia will reopen to international travel in December.

The Sydney-based airline company said it expected flights to countries with high vaccination rates including the United States, Britain, Japan and Singapore would resume in mid-December.

Flights to countries with lower vaccination rates including Indonesia, the Philippines and South Africa would restart from April next year at the earliest, Qantas said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“One of the biggest unknowns is the quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated travelers entering Australia,” the statement said.

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