QANTAS will relaunch its celebrated flights from Bendigo to Sydney from December 7 after the New South Wales Government decided on a plan to open the border with Victoria.
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The five flights on the route will be one of 250 Qantas and Jetstar flights to link Victoria and New South Wales, some of which will take off from as early as November 23.
The news will likely be enthusiastically welcomed by business and council leaders in Bendigo, which have been hoping for flights to return after they were halted at the start of the pandemic amid uncertainty about the future of the industry.
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Both groups have hoped it will help a flat-lining tourism industry but also believe it will open up new business opportunities for companies that want to take advantage of opportunities the nation's largest city.
Both airline carriers could add more flights if there is sufficient demand on the reopening routes.
Qantas Domestic & International chief executive Andrew David said the border reopening was fantastic news.
"It's also great for businesses, and great for getting more of our planes in the air and more of our people back to work," he said.
The reopening will also likely be welcome news for Melbourne residents and businesses, which used to share the nation's busiest air route with Sydney.
"On a busy day, Qantas and Jetstar would operate more than 100 flights per day between New South Wales and Victoria," Mr David said.
"During the lockdown, our schedule reduced to as low as one flight a day.
"When you consider the social and economic impact of border closures, we've always said things should open up as soon as it's safe to do so. New South Wales has led the way in taking a sensible, risk-based approach to borders that's supported by what is probably one of the best contact tracing programs in the world."
Mr David criticised Queensland and Western Australia's governments for their approach to border reopenings which he said "doesn't seem based on a realistic assessment of risk."
Qantas does not offer flights from Bendigo into those juristictions.
New South Wales announced it would reopen the Victorian border on Wednesday morning and allow free movement between both jurisdictions after four months of closures.