Days after Australian government announced that it would reopen its borders to foreign tourists from February 21, ending a ban that has lasted almost two years, a number of airlines have announced plans to resume flights to or augment their capacity to this lucrative market.

Earlier this week, Australia announced reopening of its borders to fully vaccinated tourists from around the world from February 21. Within days of the announcement, a number of airlines have already ramped up their capacity to the country, in anticipation of a sharp rise in demand for travel to Down Under.

Emirates says it will double capacity on Dubai-Sydney route from next month, bringing in another A380 SuperJumbo on the sector for its daily flights. The new flight will start on March 1, barely a week after the border reopens. EK412 will leave Dubai at 10:15 and arrive at Sydney at 07:00 the next morning, with the return leg EK413 leaving Sydney at 21:45 and reaching Dubai at 0515 the following day. Currently, flight EK414 leaves Dubai at 02:00 and reaches Sydney at 22:30. Emirates has also enhanced capacity on its daily service to Melbourne, replacing the Boeing 777-300ER with an A380. The addition of the second daily service to Sydney means the carrier will offer over 1,000 seats per day to New South Wales.

Earlier, British Airways said it will resume flights between Sydney and London after a break of nearly two years. BA says that its first flight BA15 is scheduled to land in Sydney on March 29 at 0610, having departed London Heathrow on March 27 at 2125.

The returning flight BA16 will depart Sydney at 1550 on March 29, and land in London Heathrow on March 30 at 0510. Both flights will be operated by B787 aircraft and include a stopover of about 90 minutes at Singapore Changi airport. These will be the first BA flights to the south-west Pacific since customers in the region became eligible to join the airline’s Executive Club loyalty programme in August 2021.