Qantas and Jetstar are preparing for one of their busiest Christmas holiday travel periods in years as they continue to invest for customers.

More than 8.5 million people are expected to fly on Qantas and Jetstar services throughout December and January on nearly 70,000 flights. This is more than half a million more people than the same time last year and the most since 2019-20.

The single biggest day of travel across the Group in the coming weeks is expected to be Friday 15 December with more than 150,000 customers flying throughout the day.

IMPROVING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Qantas and Jetstar have been pulling out all stops to prepare for the summer peak to help ensure a safe and smooth travel experience at this extremely busy time.

Qantas has been the most on-time major domestic airline for the past 14 months and has had the lowest cancellations over the past six months as the airline remains focused on getting customers to their destinations on time more often. Jetstar has seen a big improvement in its performance leading into summer as supply chain issues subside and as new aircraft have joined its fleet.

A number of additional measures are in place over the summer peak including:

• Several additional jet aircraft on standby
• Extra operational staff
• Extra reserve staff
• Scheduled maintenance brought forward
• More Frequent Flyer reward seats
• Upgraded Qantas app that incorporates baggage tracking & better inflight catering

MORE INTERNATIONAL FLYING

In line with the continued strong demand for international travel, the Qantas Group is operating significantly more international capacity this summer than last year, including:

• Doubling of Qantas’ Australia-Japan flights
• Resumption of flights to New York from Sydney (now via Auckland)
• Resumption of flights to Shanghai from Sydney
• Commencement of Jetstar flights from Melbourne to Nadi, Fiji

POPULAR DESTINATIONS

Throughout December and January, more than one million people will fly for under $100 on Jetstar and frequent flyers will use hundreds of thousands of Classic Reward Seats across Qantas, Jetstar and partner airlines.

Travellers who have not yet booked for the holiday period are encouraged to look at mid-week fares, which tend to offer the best value. Jetstar still has one-way fares from $66 from Sydney to Gold Coast and $199 from Melbourne to Singapore in January and Qantas has one-way fares from $155 from Sydney to Melbourne and $169 from Adelaide to Hobart.

Customers still holding a Qantas COVID credit^ can use their credit up until 31 December 2023. These bookings are eligible for double Qantas Points. To access the double points promotion, customers will need to register here and book an eligible flight with a QF flight number by 31 December 2023. Customers can claim a refund for their COVID credit at any time.

^For Qantas customers, a ‘COVID credit’ refers to travel credits for bookings up to and including 30 September 2021. For Jetstar customers, a ‘COVID voucher’ refers to Jetstar Airways vouchers that have an expiry date of 31 December 2023 (which will be automatically extended indefinitely).