Qantas Keeps Vaccine Mandate Despite Government Changes

Despite the Department of Home Affairs’ decision to eliminate vaccine requirements for visitors beginning 6 July, Qantas said it would maintain a passenger vaccination mandate for overseas flights.

Foreign travellers who intend to visit Australia will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination as of Wednesday. For the first time since the pandemic began, unvaccinated travellers will be able to enter Australia freely.

Due to the strict vaccination rule for inbound visitors, Australian border officials held tennis great Novak Djokovic shortly after arriving at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport in January.

The Australian government will abandon its vaccine obligation and a time-consuming digital passenger declaration.

However, Qantas says it has no plans to change its vaccination policies and would continue to refuse travellers who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 from flying on its overseas services.

Qantas was one of the first and only airlines to demand that passengers be vaccinated, implementing the policy before the Australian government mandated it for international tourists.

Unlike the Australian government, Qantas asks both foreign passport holders and Australian nationals to show proof of vaccination before boarding an international aircraft.

Surprisingly, while Australia’s Department of Home Affairs shows no indications of abandoning an in-flight face mask mandate, Qantas is keen for mask regulations to be relaxed.

While Qantas cannot modify the regulation across its domestic network, the airline no longer mandates passengers to wear masks on flights departing Australia and visiting countries with relaxed mask rules.

However, face masks are still required on all flights to Australia.