Last year when all this was kicking off we didn’t really expect it to last as long as it has, a few weeks at the most. Not many would have believed that the borders would still be firmly shut well into the new year. Now we are looking 6 months ahead and many people are saying that will be too soon.
Realistically, there will probably be some limited international travel permitted subject to conditions and restrictions. AJ can’t afford to wait indefinitely for a return to normality, and 1 July isn’t too near or too far. It could easily be brought forward or pushed back a bit subject to changing conditions.
Opening up the whole network for bookings is quite reasonable as tickets for the destinations which still can’t be served in the middle of the year can be refunded or rebooked. Leisure travel is more flexible as Fiji can easily replace Bali for example.
Waiting for things to get back to near normal before starting up again will cost the airline significantly as pax will have already purchased tickets on airlines which have maintained services, such as SQ and QR, instead.