Travel Restriction Updates For Australia and International Travel

For Australia travellers who are required to have covid test before departure,

Go to https://www.sonictraveltesting.com.au/ locate a clinic in your area, book and pay in advance $145 (as of 14Dec21).
Or you can do it at Sydney airport, and receive result after approx. one hour. Cost is $175 as of late Dec 2021. The queue can be long.

Destinations

Australia

International travel to and from NSW
fully vaccinated people arriving from overseas:
Self-isolate till receiving negative rapid antigent test result on day 1 and day 6
Get a COVID-19 PCR test within 3 days of arrival
Updated details >

Before arriving in Australia, you need to submit a ATD (Australia Travel Declaration), 3-7 days before travel to Australia.

You always need to do a pre-departure covid test.

Europe

Switzerland 20Dec21
Travel regulations as well as the current entry regulations to Switzerland. These are available here.
As of Monday, 20^th December 2021, 2G (vaccinated/recovered) certification is mandatory in Switzerland for all indoor public access spaces, restaurants, spas, and fitness areas.

America

USA Including Hawaii 11Dec21

The United States recently established new entry requirements for international travel, requiring that all non-U.S. citizens and non-U.S. immigrants entering the country by plane be fully vaccinated.
A summary of entry requirements is outlined below. Full details >

Requirements for all international travelers as of Dec. 6, 2021:

Show proof of a negative COVID-19 test (nucleic acid amplification test [NAAT] or antigen) taken no more than 1 day prior to the last leg of departure to the U.S. All travelers 2 years and older need to complete this step. Please note that this new 1-day requirement was previously 3 days, so plan accordingly.
Sign a CDC attestation. Attestations need to be completed for all travelers 2 years and older prior to boarding.
All non-U.S. citizens and non-U.S. immigrants must be fully vaccinated to enter the country by plane. U.S. citizens are not required to be vaccinated, but they do need to meet the pre-travel testing requirement and sign the CDC attestation mentioned above.
Vaccinated travelers need to show proof of full vaccination status prior to boarding. Children under the age of 18 are not required to show proof of vaccination.

Hawaii
the State of Hawaii removed its current entry requirements for international travel and aligned to the U.S. government’s order. If all U.S. entry requirements are met, travelers flying from another country directly into Hawaii do not have to quarantine. More details>

Asia

Maldive 29Dec21
As per the latest Ministry of Tourism guidelines, you must present a negative COVID-19 (PCR) test report in English when checking in for your flight to the Maldives. The test must be conducted within 96 hours of your departure or you’ll be unable to board your flight. Quarantine isn’t necessary on arrival in the Maldives.

Thailand 21Jan22
Entering Thailand requires 7-day hotel quarantine at a designated hotel as a tourist. The Thailand Pass website has been closed to new Test and Go sandbox applications, except for the Phuket Sandbox. You can still apply to enter Thailand under the Alternative Quarantine or Phuket Sandbox schemes.

Philippines 19Jan22
Foreigners can enter Philippines, but they will need to quarantine (at their own expense) with a choice of hotels they have to pre-book. Currently, only Philippine Airlines flies to Manila a few times a week. Starting from May/June Qantas will resume almost daily flights. Both airlines offer Business Class.

Middle East

Israel 13Jan22
Israel allows tourists from every country to enter!

Airlines

Qantas plans to fly its Boeing 787 Jets to Tokyo and Johannesburg next year 02Jun20
The Boeing 787 comes with 128 fewer seats. It’s a solid win for Business travellers with a combination of the Business Suite and Boeing 787’s comfortable and jetlag- minimizing travel experience. But travellers need to be aware that the time table will no doubt be different from what was expected and travel won’t automatically snap back to its 2019 state.

Qantas has decided to cancel all international flights until late October with flights to New Zealand as the only exception. 19Jun20

Qantas will reopen a number of its domestic and regional lounges 01Jul20
Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra will open from 1 July 2020, along with regional lounges in Alice Springs, Kalgoorlie, Tamworth, Coffs Harbour, Broome, Karratha and Launceston. Queensland and Victoria’s lounges are scheduled for progressive reopening from 10 July 2020 as current gathering restrictions are eased. Chairmans Lounges are scheduled to open in August 2020. All Qantas Lounges at international airports both in Australia and overseas remain closed.

Qantas will add two NSW routes between Sydney and Byron Bay (Ballina), Sydney and Orange from 20 July 2020. 02Jul20

Singapore Airlines 13Aug20
Singapore Airlines is starting to fly to Perth, from August 18 2020, 3 times per week, with its modern Boeing 787-10 aircrafts offering business class and economy.

South African Airways may fly again with 1.8 billion Government Bailout 05Jun20
The embattled national airline will need 17 billion rands to go toward creditors and 4 billion rands will go towards retrenchments and working capital. The draft plan is for discussion purposes and has until June 8 to finalise a rescue proposal. The coronavirus was the final nail in the coffin for SAA which last made a profit in 2011. Since then they have racked up $2 billion in losses. The funding agreement has yet to be finalized.

Delta Air Lines 18Jun20
Delta Air Lines confirms to restart services from Los Angeles to Sydney on 4 July, initially operating on a three-times-weekly basis.

Qatar Airways 18Jun20
Qatar Airways has extended its newest route Doha to Brisbane until late October 2020. The jet is configured with 46 Qsuite business class seats and 281 seats in economy.

26Aug20
Qatar Airways have resumed flights from Adelaide, boosting its Australian network to 23 flights a week including Sydney and Brisbane.

30Sep20
Qatar Airways extend Brisbane flights and go non-stop to Auckland.