Australia’s national carrier Qantas Airways has resumed bookings for international flights from July 1, 2021, signifying that overseas travel may return earlier than anticipated.

The airline started taking bookings for almost all flights across its international network on Tuesday.

Ticket sales for Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, which was planned to start in March, have been pushed back to July, while other destinations like the US and London have been brought forward from October.

Currently, New Zealand is the only overseas destination serviced by Qantas.

“Recently, we have aligned the selling of our international services to reflect our expectation that international travel will begin to restart from July 2021,” Qantas said.

“We continue to review and update our international schedule in response to the developing Covid-19 situation.”

While tickets are on sale, the airline said the resumption of international flights would be subject to vaccine rollouts and border rules.

Qantas’ move has come under fire, with deputy prime minister Michael McCormack saying: “Decisions about when international travel resumes will be made by the Australian Government. International borders will be opened when international arrivals do not pose a risk to Australians.”

He added: “The Australian government is working on travel arrangements with countries, such as New Zealand, that have low community infections.”