Govt to subsidise half-price Qantas, Virgin holiday flights

50% of what fares ?

Recently Jetstar was doing MEL/BNE for $112 return (no checked bag). You won't be seeing 50% of those fares, just maybe more of them.

I'm not 100% convinced a roll back of the mask mandate needs to be fast tracked. Yes I wear glasses and it is a bit of a pain to use masks but I consider the mask a small sacrifice to get back to some sort of normal. Maybe the first step could be loosening some of the areas where it has to be worn, like when you are seated in the plane and walking in the terminal. 

The most important thing I see to getting the travel sector back on track in the short term is to limit the hard border closures on domestic travel with at least the future provision that anyone who has been vaccinated should be exempt from any future hard border. If a state still wants these people to do quarantine, it should be at the states own cost and not that of the vaccinated person. 

If you take your time consuming food and drink you can minimise the time you need to wear a mask on board especially if you pick a seat that is one of the first to get served food and drink.

Yes, I would prefer not to have to wear a mask on board, but it is currently a requirement to wear one so if you want to travel you need to wear it. I think this will be one of the last restrictions to be taken off.

My recent flights on Qantas did not allow any form of social distancing, especially in Business Class ADL-SYD-ADL - Y seemed  much lighter load, and on return flight although C  had 5 seats free, I had an upgrader pick seat next to me so all otherpax in C  except myself and my seat mate in 1A  were partially distanced - so mask all go - just remember after 20 mins or so a Level 1 or 2 or even 3 mask becomes useless due to saturation my expired moisture 

WA ought to have been excluded completely, given that they have shut their borders to the rest of Australia. Holiday in your own backyard if you love it so much.  

Does the entire population of the state that you live in agree with all of the policies of your state government?

Apologies for having the strongest economy in Australia as a result.

Tall poppy syndrome much...

As a result of border closures?  Yeahhh.....don't think so bud

I agree. McGowan makes Dan Andrews look competent.

I definitely won't be wasting my time and money on WA.

Not quite, @reeves35,

According to the ABC Australia News website - "The subsidy is open to any airline that has been flying the nominated routesin the past two years, meaning some regional operators will be eligible along with Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar." 

There is a subtle difference. There is no requirement for a carrier to have flown the route for the past 2 years, as you have stated. Rather, the route must have been flown within the past 2 years. 

Under your definition, VA would not qualify, since it was grounded for much of 2020. 

Rex will be able to reconsider restarting Kangaroo Island / Kingscote and it is qualified. Since the program begins on April 01, if Rex is able to start OOL on 31 March, it may well qualify. Grab your popcorn

I think it's fair to say REX has been sufficiently compensated by the government enough as it is..

The subsidy is for air tickets but the aim is not just to help the airlines but to reinvigorate the regions to which these extra tickets will take people.  This is not only accommodation venues but also includes all those businesses that rely on the tourist sector.  

Already it seems to have worked for some int'l airline workers with Jetstar which is looking to reactivate its 787s onto domestic routes meaning pilots, crew and maintenance staff who were looking at spending another year stood down are now going back to work.  Hopefully the incentive drives QF to do the same for its largely dormant A332 fleet and more of Virgin's 737 fleet are brought back sooner too.

You say the government is directly influencing the market and the answer is, of course it is; that is the whole point of any government incentive.  They want to drive a behaviour that would otherwise not happen.  

Is the scheme perfect?  No.  There seems to be some regions that appear left out and you'd reckon there is a fair chance the nominated route list will grow but equally the government has been smart enough to leave out regions that aren't currently struggling.  Darwin's winter bookings are looking brilliant so it is not included; likewise WA where residents who have basically been locked in for months with a booming mining based economy have supported regions such as Broome, Margaret River etc.

say again 50% off what fares ? Not the cheapest fare buckets, just maybe a few more of them. Seems like a good way to give airlines some money, but it should be on all airlines.

Are there many flights direct from Canberra to these regional airports? It could be that you could still benefit from cheaper pricing flying e.g. via Sydney.

Yes, there are direct flights, e.g. CBR-CNS three times a week, CBR-OOL daily on QF and VA.

How do you know CBR has nothing? Can’t we travel thought Sydney, Melbourne ect to end up at CNS, ASP ect? Sorry must be missing something. 

I know from the ATAS memo I just received that only list airfares from MEL, SYD, BNE, DRW, ADL, PER but none from CBR.

According to the ABC Australia News page - article is titled "Cheap Flights with a Catch" :

OOL-CBR is nominated as a subsidised route, along with routes from ADL/MEL/SYD/AVV to the Gold Coast.

I'd be very surprised if the subsidy is only one-way, since the native population of the Gold Coast isn't that great. By comparison, each of the capital cities TO Gold Coast will really lift the economic activity in that particular area.

You think travel agents make money on selling domestic tickets when airlines have cut the commissions over recent years!  No, travel agents make money on packaging flights with hotels and tours.  So, they will be a huge beneficiary as lots of people walk into a travel agent to try and understand how they can take advantage of the Government subsidy but then walk out having bought far more than the ticket.

Rather than the industry complaining they should be entrepreneurial and thinking how they can ensure they benefit as much as possible.

The Arts community is also complaining but where have you seen them package a show with a hotel deal.  Hotels are complaining that they are running at 10% occupancy but hotels in Sydney are still north of $250.  Why not package a show for $250 and at least $150 net is better than an empty room

"Why not package a show for $250 and at least $150 net is better than an empty room"

Been a while since you last booked theatre tickets, eh Karl ? Hamilton is opening shortly in Sydney and the better seats are north of $200 each. Try booking any of the Australian Opera productions. Given the tiny number of live theatres left in Sydney, that doesn't leave much else. 

We're not Melbourne with a raft of preserved theatres, unfortunately.

The bigger question though, is who still uses Travel Agents? That battle was lost years ago.

Yes, it would be good.  I assume the government may look at this but will put a trap into the offer like the old APEX fares where you had to be away on a Saturday night to avoid all the subsidy being consumed by business travellers who would travel anyway.

I think Joyce said on the Today show yesterday that they would measure themselves against the flexible fare and report this back to the Government.  But the real test is really how many extra miles flown by the airlines.  Maybe this is how they should have been paid.  Put extra metal in the air and bumbs on seats and we will subsidy the extra passengers that you are able to generate to these locations

None of these areas can complain, the people of NTh Qld supported border closures which they new knew would decimate their own industries, all hoping the federal govt would continue jobkeeper or something similar, and they were wrong. I would suggest they look at the Qld Govt for money rather than asking the rest of the country for another handout, but the Qld Govt is broke and hasn’t got two cents to rub together, should have thought about that a bit earlier.

Tourer.  You can leave now.  There isn't any restrictions on leaving.