Predictions of when international flights may resume/bans lifted

[MelMel]

Just got this from SIA:
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Singapore Airlines welcomes recent announcements to reopen the New South Wales international border to fully vaccinated Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family members from 1 November 2021. Over the course of the past 18 months, Singapore Airlines has continued to operate to Australia, keeping key trade channels open and providing a means for essential travel. Due to the international arrival caps, only one flight a day was allowed to carry a limited number of travellers into Sydney, with the remaining flights operating as cargo-only. To support the return of more Australians and the reunification of family and friends, Singapore Airlines has opened sales on all 17 weekly flights from Singapore to Sydney for eligible customers. These flights will be shown as “For Eligible Passengers Only”, and will be available for sale via singaporeair.com or your preferred travel agent. KrisFlyer redemption bookings will be progressively made available for sale from 23 October 2021. Eligibility to travel on these services is determined by the Australian Government and must meet the following criteria:​ Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident or eligible immediate family member; Have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a TGA approved or recognised vaccine; and Have a vaccine certificate that meets the Australian Government’s authenticity and verification requirements. Children under the age of 12 and those who cannot be vaccinated due to a medical condition are exempted from this requirement. For unvaccinated passengers already booked on SIA traveling under the cap system into Sydney, we will remain guided by the local authorities on how to facilitate such passengers within the revised international arrival caps that will come into effect from 1 November 2021. We will assist such customers with their bookings once the authorities provide details. For full details on Singapore Airlines flights to Sydney, please visit our dedicated webpage. This resource will be regularly updated in line with the latest Australian Government Regulations.​

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Prior to booking, customers are encouraged to confirm their eligibility for travel to Sydney uncapped on these flights, as well as any restrictions or measures that apply for Australian Citizens and permanent residents departing or arriving into Australia via the Department of Home Affairs website. Singapore Airlines’ flights operating into other Australian cities continue under Australia’s existing cap system until further notice. All services departing from Australia will continue to operate as scheduled. As Australia begins to reopen to the world, we remain committed to working closely with all levels of Government to operationalise plans to support the safe and sustainable re-opening of Australia’s borders, and look forward to welcoming you on board again soon.​

@ayushamity does this help your fiancé ? It’s still very vague but they have at least stated they are working on accomodating unvaccinated passengers

 

[tallboy]

For additional entertainment, you can download the DFAT app called VDS-NC checker and scan the QR code to see if it works. It did for me

Cheers skip

Thanks Skip.
The VDS-NC checker app also worked for me.
Sadly, my QR code did not scan successfully on a European individual country check-in app I just scanned it with, which kind of defeats the purpose for me.
I have also applied for vaccination recognition via the French EU code system, so hopefully that will work if the current issue is not resolved.
tb

 

[ayushamity]

@ayushamity does this help your fiancé ? It’s still very vague but they have at least stated they are working on accomodating unvaccinated passengers

We booked a Vietnam Airlines flight from HCMC to Sydney on 31st October. Vietnam Airlines accepts unvaccinated/non TGA vaccinated passengers on board to Sydney in November as well (I think half of Vietnam has got Sinopharm anyway).

31st October flight means she will land in Sydney on 1st November. That is Day 1 of the start of unvaxxed arrival caps of 210/week into Sydney. There will not be 210 unvaxxed/non TGA vaxxed people landing on Day 1 of borders opening.

Hedging our bets that this comes off.

Talk about racing against the clock!

 

[levelnine]

Apparently the VIC government is expected to make an announcement about the home quarantine trial later this week.

Where did you hear that? I'd be interested in reading what's been reported.

 

[MelMel]

We booked a Vietnam Airlines flight from HCMC to Sydney on 31st October. Vietnam Airlines accepts unvaccinated/non TGA vaccinated passengers on board to Sydney in November as well (I think half of Vietnam has got Sinopharm anyway).

31st October flight means she will land in Sydney on 1st November. That is Day 1 of the start of unvaxxed arrival caps of 210/week into Sydney. There will not be 210 unvaxxed/non TGA vaxxed people landing on Day 1 of borders opening.

Hedging our bets that this comes off.

Talk about racing against the clock!

Fingers crossed for you

 

[Berlin]

Surely NZ would need to provide an internationally recognized certificates similar to one feds here are issuing and already in use in EU?

Nope. They offered a "letter" (says nothing about 'internationally recognised') and we applied for that almost 3 months ago and never got anything back. I tried again today and hoping we might get something but it will be a far cry from anything 'official', let alone a QR code or anything like that.

Hence, me being a little nervous.

 

[mviy]

Where did you hear that? I'd be interested in reading what's been reported.

Herald Sun said that there’s likely to be an announcement later in the week.

Multiple different news outlets have articles today about the trial.

Logically once 70% has been reached one would think talking a bit more about what is coming down the line even if only to mention the home quarantine trial is starting on the 27th, makes sense.

Keep on getting vaccinated because more freedoms are on the way only for the vaccinated.

 

[tallboy]

Sorry I think I'm not following the distinction here, what is different between the IATA Travelpass and the "International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate" that Australians can generate via Medicare right now? It's also an IATA format, right?

Understandably, I think there is a bit of confusion here between IATA and ICAO.

IATA is the International Air Transport Association, which is a trade association of the world's airlines, supporting technical and operational safety standards. They developed and manage the IATA Travel Pass referenced above.

ICAO is the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a specialised agency of the United Nations, funded by 193 contracting states, which oversees the development of standards and recommended practices for civil aviation globally. National aviation regulators such as CASA adopt and comply with most of these standards.

Confusingly, Australia's new International Digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates are issued to comply with the VDS-NC (highly secure QR code) standard for cross-border verification of vaccination certificates, which is issued by ICAO.

I hope that helps.
tb

 

[Telemachus]

Now what the heck are the "Australian Government’s authenticity and verification requirements" for vaccine certificates? This question has been going around here for while and I still haven't seen any detailed info on this.

It does make me slightly nervous that we're booked on flights from NZ in early November and all we have are some little card board "vaccination cards" and handwritten (!) entries into the little yellow WHO vaccination booklet. If they suddenly tell us a few days ahead that something more advanced is suddenly somehow needed, then I will panic.

Agree and understand your wariness. The Commonwealth needs to publish unambiguous guidance along the lines of what the UK has done. A page on the Gov.UK website first identifies the approved/recognised vaccines and then (a) lists the countries whose vaccination programmes & documentation are acceptable, and (b) specifies for each country exactly what needs to be presented. Scroll down to the sub-heading 'Countries with an approved proof of vaccination and examples of proof required'.

Ten days to go so plenty of time.

 

[justinbrett]

Understandably, I think there is a bit of confusion here between IATA and ICAO.
IATA is the International Air Transport Association, which is a trade association of the world's airlines, supporting technical and operational safety standards. They developed the IATA Travel Pass referenced above.
ICAO is the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a specialised agency of the United Nations, funded by 193 contracting states, which oversees the development of standards and recommended practices for civil aviation globally. National aviation regulators such as CASA adopt and comply with most of these standards.
Confusingly, Australia's new International Digital vaccination certificates are issued to comply with the VDS-NC QR code standard for cross-border verification certificates, which is issued by ICAO.
I hope that helps.
tb

Or more simply, ICAO membership consists of national governmental regulators, whereas IATA is industry. The IATA itself has observer status in ICAO - but you can pretty much surmise that ICAO is superior to IATA.

If you think about it that ICAO sets the legal framework and IATA works out best practices that comply with the regulation.

 

[mviy]

Say the home quarantine trial on Wednesday 27th October finishes on Wednesday 3rd November in VIC. They could then use a few days or so to review the trial results and maybe announce something on Sunday 7th November or a week later on the 14th November.

I wouldn't be very surprised if they set a date for late November or December 1 in order to have 90% of 16+ fully vaccinated or thereabouts.

Say the announcement does come on the 7th November they may want to give a few week's notice to the airlines which would put around the 21st November, maybe the 22nd November to make it a Monday as an optimistic resumption date for travel.

A decision to change from a plan of home quarantine to no quarantine may give them an excuse to wait longer to resume international travel than otherwise.

 

[levelnine]

Say the home quarantine trial on Wednesday 27th October finishes on Wednesday 3rd November in VIC. They could then use a few days or so to review the trial results and maybe announce something on Sunday 7th November or a week later on the 14th November.

I think things are moving too quickly for them to take that long to announce & implement. Andrews is getting asked about the issue on a daily basis. People are going to be streaming into SYD expecting to be able to get on a plane to MEL without quarantine (still no word on whether that will work or not). COVID-19 Zero is long dead. Victoria is going to be 80+% double dosed by the end of this month. Victoria does not want to lose any more tourist dollars to NSW than it has to, etc etc.

I think they will be pressed to announce something much earlier, perhaps starting first or second week of November. I would be surprised if they hold out until late November or December to reopen as you suggest. Indeed, just look at what has happened in the last 7 days. Opening of NSW border, removal of 14 day close contact isolation requirements, etc etc.

 

[hb13]

I think things are moving too quickly for them to take that long to announce & implement. Andrews is getting asked about the issue on a daily basis. People are going to be streaming into SYD expecting to be able to get on a plane to MEL without quarantine (still no word on whether that will work or not). COVID-19 Zero is long dead. Victoria is going to be 80+% double dosed by the end of this month. Victoria does not want to lose any more tourist dollars to NSW than it has to, etc etc.

I think they will be pressed to announce something much earlier, perhaps starting first or second week of November. I would be surprised if they hold out until late November or December to reopen as you suggest. Indeed, just look at what has happened in the last 7 days. Opening of NSW border, removal of 14 day close contact isolation requirements, etc etc.

I'd say this makes a lot of sense. I just want to add - how long do you think it'll be before VIC ditches quarantine altogether as Sydney has?

If VIC continues to insist on a much more conservative approach compared to Sydney, they will quickly face losing the Aus Open, the F1, tourist dollars (when tourists are finally allowed in by the Feds) and significant revenue from international flights who will all decide to fly to Sydney if they are going to continue to be restricted flying into other ports.

As a Melbournian, I actually don't have a huge problem spending 7 days at home quarantining, however, I don't have a house in Melbourne so I don't know if I could stay at one of my family members' places. It just becomes too complicated. I was planning to fly directly to MEL, but if things stay like this, I'll fly into Sydney and take a domestic flight to MEL.

Daniel Andrews needs to wake up. The world is coming back to normal - Sydney has realised this - does Melbourne, after having the world's longest duration for lockdowns, after all the financial pain really want to be left behind?

 

[PineappleSkip]

Daniel Andrews needs to wake up.

It's hard to get hamsters to get off their wheels. Not intended politically, but about embedded behaviour.

 

[mviy]

I’ve got so used to illogical restrictions being announced in Victoria that I’be now come to expect them.

NSW opening 1 November will be well past 80% double dose by then. They are already at 82.33%.

If VIC is planning to reopen early November then why only start the home quarantine trial on 27 October? VIC doing the trial will mean that most airlines won’t be confident to release seats until VIC clarifies what their findings are from the trial and how things will work including setting a firm date.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I’ve got so used to illogical restrictions being announced in Victoria that I’be now come to expect them.

NSW opening 1 November will be well past 80% double dose by then. They are already at 82.33%.

If VIC is planning to reopen early November then why only start the home quarantine trial on 27 October? VIC doing the trial will mean that most airlines won’t be confident to release seats until VIC clarifies what their findings are from the trial and how things will work including setting a firm date.

I think Victoria was forced into reopening on such a large scale by NSW. It was not planning to open for unrestricted international arrivals. Nor was the Cth either.

Given it's been a week or so since NSW's announcement, Vic has probably moved quite quickly.

 

[hb13]

I think Victoria was forced into reopening on such a large scale by NSW. It was not planning to open for unrestricted international arrivals. Nor was the Cth either.

Given it's been a week or so since NSW's announcement, Vic has probably moved quite quickly.

It is awesome that has happened - NSW has done the right thing by inadvertently applying this pressure. Someone in Australia had to wake up and do the right thing.

 

[Lynda2475]

NSW opening 1 November will be well past 80% double dose by then

Will be 90% double vaxed by then.

 

[ayushamity]

Just got an update from CX as follows:

Following the Government’s announcement that fully vaccinated Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family will be able to fly to Sydney quarantine-free, we are pleased to announce we will be offering increased capacity on our flights to/from Sydney with 10 flights a week from 1 November 2021.

Spoke to CX about the unvaccinated issue as they specifically said call and do not book online. So they have been advised by the government that unvaccinated passengers can book flights in November on any airline but depending on how early they booked, they will notify each airline to cancel passenger ticket few days prior to their flight.

I would have thought a ticket system would have been better but maybe they haven't got the time to set one up in 10 days.

 

[dajop]

One of our contributors, @yohy?! was taken to task for criticising NSW, with the person responding pointing out the politics isn't supposed to be discussed. Got to laugh, we're already back onto politics again. Please stop. Or is it OK to criticise Dan and Qld but not Dom?