Airline boss says vaccination will be needed to travel

(Journalist)
– Qantas has become the first major airline to confirm that it will not allow unvaccinated passengers on board once coronavirus vaccines become widely available. Alan Joyce, chief executive of the Australian airline, says vaccines will be a “necessity” for international travelers when air travel returns to normal, Financial Times reports. Joyce tells 9News the airline hopes to have a “significant” part of its international operations up and running by the middle of next year, but much will depend on the vaccine. “We are considering changing our terms and conditions to say that for international travelers, we will require people to get vaccinated before they can get on the plane,” he said. Joyce says that Qantas is studying how people can receive a “vaccination passport”.

“I think it will be a common thing to talk to my colleagues from other airlines around the world,” Joyce says. Australia, which closed its border to non-residents in March and requires residents returning from abroad to remain in quarantine for two weeks, has reduced new cases of COVID to almost zero, reports the BBC. Qantas has suspended all international flights except a few to New Zealand, which also controls the pandemic, but has started to reopen routes between Australian states. After New South Wales reopened its border with Victoria on Monday, people at Sydney Airport held up signs saying “Welcome back” as the first of at least 20 interstate flights landed. (Read more stories about coronaviruses.)