Australia cuts Qantas as it battles coronavirus

Sydney Airport as Australia reacts to the new coronaviruses Omicron variant in Sydney Airport

The airline, which ends its financial year in June, will provide more details on the impact of the changes when it issues half-year results in late February.

Qantas hasn't made material capacity adjustments for the fourth quarter.

The Australian carrier is the latest airline in the world to make major capacity cuts in March due to the highly infectious Omicron variant of the coronaviruses, which can cause travel demand and lead to rising sick calls among staff.

Rival Virgin Australia is at www.reuters. com business aerospace-defense virgin-australia cut-capacity by 25 covid 19 cases-rise - 2022 - 01 - 10 text SYDNEY 2 C 20 rise 20 in 20 Australia on Monday said it would cut capacity by 25% in January and February.

Finnair said on Wednesday it would reduce February capacity by 20% after earlier cuts by Ryanair and Lufthansa while in the United States https: www.reuters. Com business omicron-turbulence looms-over us-airline earnings -- 2022 -- 01-11 airlines have cancelled thousands of flights due to an increase in sick calls.

Qantas said it would run 70% of its pre-COVID 19 domestic capacity in the third quarter, down from a prior forecast of 102%, at a time when Australia is reporting record numbers at: www.reuters. Healthcare-pharmaceuticals australia-covid 19 infections-hit record-amid runaway Omicron outbreak - 2022 -- 01 -- 13 of COVID 19 cases due to a runaway Omicron outbreak.

The international capacity will fall to 20% of pre-COVID-19 levels from 30% due to tighter travel restrictions in countries like Japan, Indonesia and Thailand, according to Qantas.

We have the flexibility to add capacity back if demand improves earlier than expected, but 70% still represents a lot of domestic flying and it's a quantum improvement on the levels we faced only a few months ago, said Alan Joyce, Qantas Chief Executive.

He said early bookings for the Easter holidays in April were promising for domestic and international flights.