Melbourne & Sydney, Friday 6 November - Jetstar and Qantas have seen a huge spike in demand for travel between NSW and Victoria, following the announcement on Wednesday that borders will open between the two states from 23 November.
Around 25,000 seats were sold across both airlines in the first 48 hours of the announcement, with almost 17,000 of those between Sydney and Melbourne and the remainder between Melbourne and Ballina, and Melbourne and Newcastle.
One-third of bookings are for flights in the first week of borders opening, highlighting a strong pent-up demand for domestic travel.
Jetstar and Qantas will operate thousands of flights between the two states over the summer period and will monitor demand to add more flights as needed.
These additional flights will see Melbourne - Sydney once again becomes Australia's busiest air route.
Comments from Jetstar Group CEO Gareth Evans
- "Within hours of the announcement, thousands of people had booked flights which shows us that domestic travel demand is very strong.
- "Jetstar had around 1000 bookings in the first hour alone, which is more than 10 times the rate of booking we've seen in recent months.
- "There's no doubt that 23 November will be a day that both our people and our customers are very much looking forward to, particularly family and friends who can finally reunite after months apart.
- "It's also great news for businesses and the economy and means more of our people are back at work."
