Dear Batman ,
As the national carrier, we know how important it is for Australians to travel and stay connected.
For 100 years, the wellbeing of our customers has been, and continues to remain, our highest priority. We’ve weathered challenging times before but in the wake of the unprecedented impact of the Coronavirus, we’ve had to make some tough decisions.
Unfortunately, the changes will have a big impact on both our customers and our people.
OUR CUSTOMERS
We have announced further changes to our business. We’ve made these decisions in response to the evolving Coronavirus situation, including various government-imposed travel restrictions beyond our control.
International network changes
All Qantas and Jetstar international flights from Australia will be suspended from the end of March until at least the end of May 2020. Some additional services may be considered to assist with repatriation. More than 150 aircraft will be grounded during this time, including all of Qantas’ A380s, 747s and B787s.
Stay up to date with the latest international network changes.
Domestic network changes
As the national carrier, we will be looking to maintain essential domestic, regional and freight connections as much as possible. However, we will be suspending around 60 percent of our domestic flying until at least the end of May 2020. The reduction in capacity will mostly come from a significant reduction in flight frequency, but also route suspensions and postponing a number of new route launches.
The route-by-route detail of these changes can be found here.
Options for our customers
We are currently working through plans to ensure we have suitable options available for everyone, including providing new flight details where possible for impacted domestic customers and processing a flight credit for all other customers from early next week.
Please standby and wait to hear from us before changing your booking. We'll be contacting anyone whose flight has been impacted over the next week to let you know your options.
If your flight was booked through a travel agency or third-party website and is impacted by the above network changes, you will need to contact this company directly from early next week to obtain your credit voucher or make booking changes.
For information regarding the Australian Consumer Law click here.
Call centre delays – we thank you for your patience
Our call centres are under significant pressure responding to the rapidly evolving travel situation. At this stage we are prioritising those with imminent travel, and we ask that you do not call our call centres unless your travel is commencing within the next 48 hours.
If your flights were booked through a travel agency or third-party website, please contact these companies directly.
Lounge closures
As a result of the reduction in international flying we'll be temporarily closing our international lounges and a number of domestic lounges in line with the network changes. In this climate you may also notice some temporary changes to your inflight and lounge experience.
To see the full list of lounge closures click here.
OUR PEOPLE
This week we have had to make a very difficult decision for our people, one of the toughest decisions we have had to make as a business - and we have done this to ensure that our people can be part of our future and we can bring them back when things return to normal. Rather than triggering large scale job losses, we are instead standing down the majority of our 30,000 strong workforce from next week. We are working with our people to support them during this period, including allowing them to take a range of leave options.
100 Years of The Spirit of Australia
For almost 100 years, Qantas has been taking Australia and Australians to the world. We know this is a challenging time for everyone. On behalf of the 30,000 people who make up the Qantas Group, thank you for your continued support and loyalty. We look forward to welcoming you aboard again soon.
Warm regards,
Stephanie Tully
Group Chief Customer Officer
