If they were going to use CR, you’d think it would be before everyone who took lwop to avoid CR start coming back in September.

Unless the vaccine somehow turns into an abysmal failure, I really don’t see CR being needed.

With the announcement today re vaccine going earlier (February now) which makes me think did AJ know or maybe heard a rumor this could happen hence selling tickets in July?!

I’m sure AJ and co will be formulating a plan and that plan will involve every Domestic pilot. I’m sure every international pilot will be needed there is a void in the Australian market now VA are no longer.

It would be wonderful news if they can roll this out on the timeline announced and we can all get back to work again. The US also had a plan to vaccinate huge numbers in a short time frame, last I read at the rate it is actually going at now, it would take them about decade to vaccinate most of the country. I'm sure the Australian roll out plan will be smooth as silk though...

If it is to be mostly the Astrazeneca vaccine for Australia, and it is widely available from CSL at refrigerator temperature(-2deg C), can't see why vaccinating the entire country in short order would be much of a big deal at all. I didn't see any queues whilst as many as 18 million people received the flu jab, last year.

27 May 2020
"An additional two million flu vaccines will be available from this week bringing the total number available in 2020 to a record 18 million.This is up from 13.2 million flu vaccines in 2019, 11 million in 2018 and almost 10 million more than the 8.3 million flu vaccines provided in 2017.".
https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/...ct-australians

What proof is there you’ve had the flu jab though? If it’s a requirement to have some sort of COVID passport stamp for travel, that would add to the logistics compared to the flu?

i have a travel vaccination record. Somewhere.
it was a thing for a long time for visiting some parts of the world.

mechanism exists

Whilst we've rarely had the flu vaccine the past, in order to enter the retirement facility where my Mother-in-Law resides, we were required to show proof of having had the flu vaccine. Three of us had received the vaccine at different centres, but a simple receipt from each, presented at the time, showed the date and the type of vaccine received. I'd be surprised if this information is not available anytime you get this jab.

IATA are working on a vaccine passport at the moment.

https://www.iata.org/en/programs/passenger/travel-pass/

And this works fine in a high trust environment - all that's at stake is your propensity to kill your Grannie, so you have a high incentive to be actually compliant.

Not so much if having a genuine-looking Covid vaccine certificate is needed to allow you to for example: escape the Covid-hotspot hell you are stuck in; and/or gain the DEC position you've been working towards since you were a teenager; and/or complete the PhD that will ensure your and your families financial security for the next twenty years.
In these situations, something you can bodge up with a word processor and a bit of free PDF editor software isn't going to cut the mustard. I'm guessing there might be something like a Visa stuck into your passport with an official stamp.
Of course, in a country where $US100 is a month's wages for a high-paid passport office worker ...

My stand down job involves me ensuring people have a fluvax. Some print out their immunisation record from mygov, others have a standard letter from their doctor. All of them look like they could be created on Word in about 5 minutes.

It will have to be a lot more secure than that.

It wouldn't be hard to have something that could be verified online at a government website. A bar code on the vaccine pass which when scanned confirms the validity of the pass and displays a picture of the holder, no more difficult than scanning a boarding pass at an airport autogate.

laminated cards at least! Would take at least a trip to Koh san road to get something that legit.

The government said there is no way borders will be open or Australians permitted to travel overseas In July.
Greg Hunt said it was always the end of 2021.
Considering a mutated and more infectious strain exists and has spread globally like the UK strain, they won’t be in a hurry to open borders.
It may even be delayed till 2022.
Other than the IFAM flying, repatriation or Tasman flying there won’t much international flying.
Does not look like there will be much domestic flying either.Border closures look to be in place till the vaccine is established.
Lot of unknowns why qantas would be doing this.Could be revenue.Could be best case scenario as someone said.Could be a way of pushing for extended jobkeeper so they can extend stand down.

July is 6 months away and vaccination is expected to start in February. A well run campaign could have sufficient numbers of people protected to allow a limited opening up with restrictions and conditions in place. A vaccination certificate and negative test result might suffice for inbound travellers, and could be a requirement for departing the country.

Borders are unlikely to be thrown open on 1 July but there could be an easing of the noose.

“Start” in February is the key word. Pretty sure the Aus Govt plan has the vast majority vaccinated by the end of October at the earliest.

Israel currently has the fastest rollout of anywhere and they can only do 1 million in 12 weeks.

Given the highly conservative choices taken by the state governments at least (not sure the Feds have the same view), I’d say July has ZERO chance of QF doing any international flights. Even at Christmas time my pessimistic view has a 50/50 chance 14 day quarantine will still be in place for a large number of arrivals.

Fed Gov plan is to have 4million people done by end of March. Given the cautious approach and planning they’re taking they can’t afford to mess this up. Sco Mo will announce an election some time this yr so this will be apart of his election campaign, the success of the roll out.

Most definitely - in an election year ScoMo can't really campaign on closing the international border like the state leaders were able to trumpet their excellence in keeping out the great unwashed. WA appears to be doing just that (election in Mar). ScoMo will be judged strongly on the rollout and it's perceived effectiveness from now until then. It is in his best interests for it not to be a clusterf*ck. The federal health department doesn't seem as dazed and confused as some of it's state counterparts.
News suggests most of USA and Europe under emergency protocols are not even coming close to using all of their batch allocations (lots of vials in warehouses not being utilised yet).

We have a chance for the government to really try to get the rollout right. Media suggests they are working with the states and territories right now... I think in this aspect of the pandemic response there is room for cautious optimism.

The other thing to keep in mind is as the vaccine is rolled out and as the percentage of the recipients increases, you might find that the requirement to quarantine will probably change from mandatory hotel to being able to be done at home, this in itself will allow an increase of travel inbound, although probably initially not tourists, more like returning citizens and students. You will then find vaccinated Australians will be able to apply for a permit to leave and travel.
So around July you have the situation crossing over from what we have now to what will become the new new norm for a while until it can be fully opened up, my guess would be about this time next year.
WA will be sometime around 2050. :rolleyes:

Caveat being this is applying commonsense which has been lacking with the current bunch of Australian politicians.

I think with four million being vaccinated by March, a July start date for QF might not be far off the mark. The main issue is to vaccinated the vulnerable group ASAP. Get them done and the pressure is off the health system. Anytime after that and it’s icing on the cake.

So with international fights commencing July 1...whose coming back from LWOP? Where’s Normanton these days - very quiet!!

787 is scheduled for daily

SYD - SFO, LAX, DFW, JNB, LHR, HKG*
PER - LHR
BNE - LAX
MEL - LAX

Did we acquire some extra airframes or something??
Let alone crew.......