Soft demand and ongoing border closures puts a spoke in the wheel of Qantas' international reboot.

• Melbourne-London flights delayed to November 27
• Brisbane flights to LA and Singapore pushed back to February 2022
• Australia-New Zealand to remain closed until January 2022

Proving that the runway to post-pandemic skies is anything but smooth, Qantas has been forced to delay flights from Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as to New Zealand and New Caledonia.
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Melbourne-London
While Qantas was quick to bring forward its Melbourne-London flights to November 6, following Victoria's move to abandon hotel and home quarantine for fully-vaccinated travellers, the airline says "demand for these earlier flights has been subdued."

"This situation is short-lived, as demand on this route from late November onwards is much stronger," Qantas claims, "leading to the decision for the restart date to be delayed from 6 November to 27 November 2021."
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Brisbane restart bumped to 2022
As previously reported, Queensland won't allow quarantine-free international travel until early 2022, when it reaches a statewide 90% vaccination rate – as opposed to the original 80% benchmark, which New South Wales and Victoria held to. This has left Qantas with no choice but to hit the pause button on overseas flights from Brisbane.Flights to other international destinations from Queensland will resume progressively in the months following, the airline says.

New Zealand closed until at least January 2022
Hopes of trans-Tasman travel returning in December were also dashed earlier today when NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that hotel quarantine and limits on the number of arrivals will continue for people travelling from Australia. This will see Qantas and Jetstar push back flights from Sydney and Melbourne to at least January 3, 2022. "These dates could be pushed later should these restrictions remain," the airline adds. "Qantas and Jetstar are ready to ramp up flights when people can travel freely between Australia and New Zealand again."
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Qantas is bringing forward the return of the A380 to January 2022, with the first superjumbo now just weeks away from flying between Sydney and Los Angeles.Starting Tuesday January 11, the double-decker jet will feature three days a week on the flagship route, alongside one weekly Boeing 787 service – marking an overall reduction from the previously-scheduled daily timetable.

The airline says this is due to the need for its 70-odd Brisbane-based Boeing 787 pilots to undergo 14 days isolation after each international service, which means they can't be rostered onto other international flights until they leave quarantine. Crew based in most other states are not subject to these limitations.
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In addition, the airline says the A380's 14 first class suites "will be offered as complimentary upgrades to top tier Frequent Flyers who have booked business class seats" on the dropped Boeing 787 flights.

International Boeing 787 flights from Melbourne are also being reduced during January, again due to the need for Brisbane-based pilots to quarantine for two weeks. Melbourne-London is being reduced from daily Boeing 787 flights "to up to four weekly services", while Melbourne-Los Angeles drops from four Boeing 787 flights per week to three.
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