Qantas creates more travel options for customers across regional Australia
The announcement means Qantas will be flying to five more destinations across Australia than it was pre-COVID (up from 57 to 62). The airline also today begins flying direct from Sydney to Merimbula on the New South Wales Sapphire Coast for the first time, announced in October.
| Route | Start date | Frequency (return flights per week) |
| Sydney - Griffith | 1 March 2021 | Daily |
| Melbourne - Newcastle | 1 Feb 2021 | Twelve |
| Melbourne - Merimbula | 1 March 2021 | Four |
| Melbourne - Mount Gambier | 28 March 2021 | Five |
| Melbourne - Wagga Wagga | 28 March 2021 | Four |
| Melbourne - Albury | 28 March 2021 | Four |
| Adelaide - Mount Gambier | 28 March 2021 | Five |
Qantas is offering special fares for flights on the new routes from $125 one way, available at qantas.com or through Travel Agents, until 20 December 2020, unless sold out prior.
The flights will largely be operated by the airline's 50-seat Q300 turboprop aircraft, with upgraded cabin interiors, adding more than 320,000 seats to these regional destinations each year.
Qantas has already introduced a number of initiatives to encourage customers to book with greater flexibility, as well as to improve safety and peace-of-mind when travelling domestically through its Fly Well program.
Additional flights
- Melbourne-Gold Coast weekly flights will double - from daily to twice daily - from April 2021 with the new schedule to cater for both corporate and leisure travellers.
- Sydney-Orange flights will increase from three days per week to daily from February 2021.
- Melbourne-Launceston flights will be upgraded from a Q400 aircraft to a larger Boeing 717, adding more than 400 seats on the route each week.
- A number of seasonal routes originally scheduled for the summer have been extended to operate year-round, including
Since domestic border restrictions started to ease in July, Qantas has announced or commenced flying on 13 new routes across Australia. Today's announcement brings that number to 20.
Qantas has been progressively "waking up" its domestic and regional aircraft to support this new flying, with the vast majority of the airline's regional fleet expected to be operational by early 2021.
Qantas flights continue to have complimentary baggage and food and drink included with every seat. The airline has now opened 30 of its 35 domestic and regional lounges across its network.
Today is the last day to register for Qantas' Status Fast Track initiative that has seen thousands of members from other airlines switching to Qantas Frequent Flyer to take advantage of the national carrier's extensive lounge and flying network.
Qantas is also offering customers the opportunity to join its Frequent Flyer program for free until 31 January 2021 via qantas.com/freejoin. Travellers will be able to earn Qantas Points and Status Credits on the new routes as well as using their points to book flights.