Once some countries believe they have stabilized the spread of COVID-19, they are planning to reopen their borders for air travel progressively. In this regard, China and South Korea have agreed to create a controlled corridor between Seoul and 10 Chinese regions, including Shanghai. Also, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia agreed last Friday to lift air restrictions.

The Australian government is also negotiating with the New Zealand government to reopen air routes, which are expected to resume Quantas flights to New Zealand by the end of this year, Australian airline CEO Alan Joyce said. As far as Quantas is concerned, Joyce has assured that domestic flights will start to reopen in July, while advising the Australian provinces to open their borders.

"We could be operating 40 to 50 per cent of pre-COVID-19 operation in July if demand is there," Alan Joyce said. "We have talked about things like offering $19 air fares between Melbourne and Sydney when we get started. We have to offer really cheap air fares to get people to overcome their reluctance around COVID-19".

In particular, Quantas has published the "Fly Well" program, which it will implement on its flights, and which includes a variety of measures that Quantas and Jetstar will apply to ensure that COVID-19 can be flown safely.  Through this program, the Australian airline recommends various measures to passengers to be carried out at the airport (they strongly recommend check-in through the mobile App), at the departure gates and onboard the plone. 

"Because the cabin's pressurised, 99.9 per cent of all viruses, all bacteria, are filtered through medical-grade filters, they are usually in operating theatres and the air is extracted every five minutes from the cabin," Joyce explained.

Among the measures that Quantas and Jetstar will apply on their flights are the following:

- Simplified service: for the time being we have reduced our food and beverage offering and removed inflight entertainment. 

- Once normal domestic travel resumes, masks and sanitising wipes will be provided to all passengers. While masks are not mandatory from a safety point of view, they are recommended to be worn for everyone's peace-of-mind. You can also bring your own mask if you'd prefer.

- You're asked to limit movement around the cabin, once seated.

- Temporary removal of inflight magazines (available digitally).

- Additional sanitiser and wipes are available during your flight.

Currently, restrictions remain in place in Australian territories such as New Soth Wales, Victoria, Queensland (hard border closure), Western Australia (hard border closure), South Australia (border closed, except from travelers who came from Queensland or Western Australia), Tasmania (similar restrictions than South Australia), Northern Territory (hard border closure).