June

9 June

Air New Zealand confirms it will drop social distancing imminently after the country lowered its coronavirus restrictions today. Now the country is in ‘Alert Level 1’, passengers will be able to eat hot food in the airline’s lounges, and unaccompanied minors can travel domestically again. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced earlier that, from midnight, New Zealand could return to mostly normal lives after its last remaining case recovered.

15 June

Qatar Airways’ share of passengers travelling to and from Australia leapt from just 3 per cent to 44.5 per cent in April. The jump means the carrier, owned by the namesake state, is now by far the biggest in terms of passengers carried – with previous number one Qantas slumping from 17.9 per cent to just 2.9 per cent. The independent figures, recently released by the Australian government’s Bureau of Infrastructure, appear to confirm statements from the airline itself that it’s now the world’s biggest. Qantas and Virgin virtually suspended all international operations at the end of March as the coronavirus pandemic caused nations to shut their borders.

19 June

Australia’s domestic aviation industry roars back into life as 10,000 Jetstar $19 tickets sell out in just four hours. The special offer is part of a wider sale on 200,000 seats, with 70,000 selling out by early afternoon at a rate 40 times higher than a typical day. The Qantas Group says the news highlights the “huge pent up demand” for air travel and will be seen by many as a sign that consumers are now confident to begin flying again. Chief executive Alan Joyce adds, “We have a lot of aircraft on the ground with fixed costs attached to them, so if we can put some of them back in the air by offering special fares, it’s a positive for us, for our people, for tourism and for consumers.”

22 June

Victoria records more than 160 new cases of COVID-19 in a week, leading to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk claiming that the state’s decision to re-open its border to the rest of the nation on 10 July could be overturned.

23 June

Health Minister Greg Hunt heavily hints Australia’s international borders will remain closed until a coronavirus vaccine is developed. Talking to the ABC on Tuesday morning, Minister Hunt says, “I do think that the international border closures will remain in place for a very significant time.” The words come after an apparent second wave of cases in Victoria spooks states into playing down interstate travel, too.

25 June

The Qantas Group announces it will cut 6,000 jobs altogether, or nearly 20 per cent of its workforce, and continue stand-downs for a further 15,000 employees. In a statement released on Thursday morning to announce its post-pandemic strategy, the business adds it will ground 100 aircraft for up to 12 months, including most of its international fleet. Chief executive Alan Joyce says, “Adapting to this new reality means some very painful decisions. The job losses we’re announcing today are confronting. So is the fact thousands more of our people on stand-down will face a long interruption to their airline careers until this work returns.”

26 June

Virgin Australia’s administrator officially confirms Bain Capital has won the bidding war to acquire the airline. The formal announcement came at 11am after its only approved rival, Cyrus Capital Partners, withdrew its proposal. Bain’s winning bid will now be put to creditors in August, who will vote to confirm the deal.

30 June

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews requests all flights to Melbourne be diverted for the next fortnight as the state battles to get to grips with an apparent second spike of coronavirus cases. The announcement comes just hours after Queensland says it will open its borders to all states except Victoria, and South Australia U-turned and insisted it will now not allow travel to NSW, Victoria and the ACT. The dramatic flurry of announcements came after another big day of COVID-19 cases in Melbourne, with 64 recorded following the 75 on Monday. The numbers, however, have corresponded with a huge testing blitz in affected suburbs.