Qantas airline on Thursday sold in 10 minutes all its seats for a “flight to nowhere” that will soar over some of Australia’s main tourist attractions for seven hours on Oct. 10, in response to restrictions imposed on domestic and international routes.
With many of the internal borders closed in the oceanic country, the Australian company offers this flight that departs and returns to Sydney to fly over the red monolith Uluru, the Whitsundays Islands and the Great Barrier Reef on Oct. 10, Qantas said Thursday in a statement.
The flight in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, normally used on international routes, allows a trip to be made without passengers having to carry out the 14-day quarantine imposed on people residing in so-called “COVID-19 hotspots” when they travel to another state.
Tickets for this flight, which features a menu catered by Australian chef Neil Perry, sold for between $572 and $2,754 and sold out in 10 minutes.
The flight is “probably the fastest sold in the history of Qantas,” a company spokeswoman told EFE.
Qantas has also decided to resume from November the 12-hour routes that it previously offered to fly over Antarctica aboard a Boeing 787 aircraft as a measure to mitigate the economic effects of COVID-19.
In late August, Qantas said it is considering outsourcing its ground services due to the sharp decline in its operations due to the coronavirus pandemic, which could lead to the elimination of another 2,500 jobs.
These cuts would be added to the reduction of 6,000 jobs that Australia’s largest airline announced in June as part of its restructuring plan due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Text courtesy of EFE
