Australia’s borders will open in December to any states willing to take overseas flights

Australia’s international border will be officially flung open by the end of the year to any states willing to take overseas flights. 

Fully vaccinated Australians will be able to pack their bags for an international holiday before Christmas, and will only have to home quarantine for seven days. 

There will likely be no travel bubbles imposed, with double-jabbed residents free to fly to any country anywhere in the world, 9 News reported. 

Fully vaccinated Australians will be able to pack their bags for an international holiday before Christmas and will only have to home quarantine for seven days (pictured, a tourist in London)

There is currently no plan to categorise overseas destinations into green, orange and red zones as done by other countries. 

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has said Australia and its states ‘can not stay closed forever’. 

Australian airline Qantas has officially confirmed Australians can pack their bags for an overseas holiday from December 18. 

The country’s flagship airline has provided the exact date holiday-hungry residents can book flights to popular destinations like the US, UK, Canada and Singapore.

Biosecurity laws banning outbound travel without an exception will end on December 17 – the day before flights are set to resume.

Qantas has scheduled flights to London, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Singapore to commence from December 18.

Australians will additionally be able to pack their bags for a highly-anticipated holiday to Tokyo and Fiji from December 19, and Hawaii the following day.  

There will likely be no travel bubbles imposed, with fully vaccinated Australians free to fly to any country anywhere in the world (pictured, a tourist in the United States)

Qantas announced its plans to gradually bring back overseas flights once 80 per cent of the over 16s are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in accordance with the national plan. 

The airline said it expected the country to reach that target in December – triggering the re-opening of international borders as part of ‘Phase C’ of the federal government’s path to pandemic normality.   

Flights to cities in Asia and South Africa with low vaccination rates and high Covid-19 case numbers will be off the cards to at least April 2022.

However, Hong Kong could be a viable holiday destination from February 2022. 

Last week, Minister for Trade and Tourism Dan Tehan delivered some welcome news to holiday-hungry Australians and confirmed the nation was on track to lift travel restrictions this year. 

Mr Tehan said overseas flights would be back on ‘by Christmas at the latest’.  

‘I do empathise with the Australians who have been denied the opportunity to travel overseas this year. It’s another reason why everyone should get vaccinated,’ he said.

‘We have to stick to the national plan that will see our international border open up – at this rate by Christmas at the latest.’ 

More to come.