Qantas won't allow international passengers to board its flights unless they have had a Covid-19 vaccine, the company's CEO has announced.
Alan Joyce, the company's CEO, revealed that when a vaccine eventually becomes available, the airline will require international travellers to have been inoculated against Covid-10 before they are allowed to get on one of the Australian carrier's flights.
He told Australia's Nine Network that the company saw the requirement as a "necessity" for international visitors. In a later interview with Australian radio 3AW he added that the "only basis" for exemptions would be on medical grounds.
Australia closed its international borders at the start of the pandemic, and at the time of writing these remain closed except forAustralian citizens and permanent residents or those with an exemption.
As a result, Qantas - like many other airlines in the world - has been forced to slash its schedule and cancel flights.
It's not yet been confirmed when Australia could re-open its borders. Australian authorities have previously said that the country would be unlikely to welcome back tourists until "late next year".
At the time, the country's Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has said that authorities are working off the assumption that Australia's borders will still be "largely closed off until late next year".
However, this announcement was made weeks before news of potential vaccines began emerging.
In recent weeks there has been promising news of Covid-19 vaccines, from an effective vaccine developed by Oxford University to a jab from drugs firm Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE believed to be 90% effective in preventing the disease.
The news of a potential vaccine alone has already caused a surge in Brits planning holidays to popular hotspots including including Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and Turkey.
At the time of writing, the Foreign Office does not advise Brits against travel to Australia as the country is on the UK's list of travel corridors - however, because Australian borders remain closed, Brits still won't be able to visit for a holiday.
You can find out more in the FCDO Australia travel advice.
