[Greg Hyde]

Not good news Robbie

Qantas to chase new Asian routes, with flights to UK and United States unlikely for another year

Australians are unlikely to fly to the United States or UK on Qantas for another year, with its chief executive outlining that this could "potentially" happen "by the end of 2021".

"For some of our big destination like the United States and the UK, it's going to need a vaccine given the high prevalence of the virus in both of those locations," Qantas Group boss Alan Joyce said at the company's AGM in Sydney on Friday.

"But we are getting more and more confident about the opportunities and the potential for a vaccine in helping getting those operations up by potentially by the end of 2021."

He said it was "going to take some time to recover international travel back".

Mr Joyce had previously said he did not expect that international flights, except for New Zealand, would resume before July 2021.

It was also revealed that the company, which owns both Qantas and Jetstar, is expecting a further $100m in losses for the first quarter of this financial year, as border restrictions drag on due to COVID-19.

"The unexpected closure of several domestic borders in July meant our recovery has been delayed," Mr Joyce said.

"We had expected group domestic to be operating at about 60 per cent of pre-COVID levels by now. Instead, the continued border closures mean capacity is now below 30 per cent.

"This delay resulted in a $100 million negative impact on earnings for the first quarter of FY21, and will have an impact on Q2 as well."

The flying kangaroo recorded a $2 billion loss for 2019-20, with the coronavirus pandemic slashing its full-year revenue by 21 per cent.

The company's chairman Richard Goyder used the AGM to criticise ongoing domestic border closures.

"Even as numbers in Victoria come under control and New South Wales shows how small clusters can be managed, there is some frustrating inertia around the Queensland and Western Australian borders," he said.

"This inertia that doesn't seem to be based on the actual health risk.

"And that seems to ignore the broader economic and social risk involved with staying shut — especially as Federal income support winds down."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-...s-agm/12806048