Qantas Launches 'Mystery Flights' to Boost Tourism Amid COVID-19 Restrictions

Mar. 3—Qantas is launching a series of 'mystery flights' to boost domestic travel as the Australian government extended the international travel ban for another three months. The aviation sector has been hit hard due to the travel restrictions imposed by governments around the world to contain the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), prompting airlines to devise different strategies to tackle the challenges.

Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) on Monday released preliminary traffic figures for January 2021 that showed the airline operations were "still depressed" as the spread of coronavirus variants resulted in tighter border restrictions. AAPA said that Asia Pacific airlines carried a combined total of 1.3 million passengers in January, which was less than 4 per cent of January 2020 numbers.

"The industry is working with several stakeholders to prepare the ground for the sustained resumption of air travel, notably on contactless digitalized tools and passenger facilitation protocols to ensure a safe and seamless journey for travelers," AAPA director general Subhas Menon said in a statement.

In an attempt to boost domestic travel, the Australian flag carrier has now announced three mystery flights, each from different cities, that will take the travellers to a destination not known to them beforehand. The destination will be revealed to passengers as the aircraft commences its descent but they will also get the chance to guess it during the journey using the flight path appearing on their seat-back screens.

"We'll operate a series of exclusive Mystery Flight adventures where you book a flight without knowing what destination you'll end up in until you join 120 others on a surprise adventure day outing," the airlines said on its website.

Such mystery flights were popular in the 1990s when passengers would arrive at the airport without knowing the destination and be placed on any flight across the Qantas network. The new mystery flight adventures offer a private charter on a Boeing 737 flight from Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney, to a surprise location for a day trip. The package includes breakfast in the Qantas lounge of departure city, inflight food and beverages, gift bag for all passengers, and activity tailored for the destination.

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