Queensland has reopened its borders to Australia's southern states overnight, and airlines are boosting capacity and flights into the state, preparing for the Christmas holiday rush. Queensland had closed its borders to Australia's most populous states since July.

Qantas Group flights in and out of Queensland increase seven-fold this week

Between them, on Monday, Qantas and Jetstar will operate more than 100 flights to and from Queensland. That is about the same number of Qantas and Jetstar flights in and out of Queensland over the last seven days.

“There is huge pent-up demand for flights to and from Queensland, with Jetstar seeing a 50% surge in bookings in the first 24 hours after the State Government confirmed the reopening," says Jetstar Group CEO Gareth Evans.

Jetstar says more than 10,000 passengers will fly on Qantas Group services on Monday in and out of Queensland. It's not just a win for people heading north, but also for Queenslanders who can now fly south knowing they will not be locked out of their home state when it's time to return.

In addition to the state capital, Brisbane, the normally busy Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, and Cairns airports will now see a serious upswing in flights and passenger traffic.

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Virgin Australia & Rex also boost Queensland flights

Qantas and Jetstar are not the only airlines benefitting from the Queensland border reopening. Regional Express (Rex) is launching its Sydney - Brisbane and Melbourne - Brisbane flights on Friday, December 20. Rex flights between Sydney - Gold Coast and Melbourne - Gold Coast are also resuming on Thursday, December 16.

Last week, Virgin Australia had 48 flights and 17,000 seats available into Queensland from Victoria, New South Wales, and Canberra. This week, the airline will offer an additional 259 flights and 107,000 seats into Queensland. Over the next four weeks, Virgin Australia will offer over 600,000 seats on flights into Queensland from the southern states.

Virgin Australia says the Queensland routes showing the biggest growth in the last week are Sunshine Coast – Sydney, Gold Coast – Sydney, Brisbane – Sydney, and Melbourne – Gold Coast

Virgin Australia was quick to push back some Queensland-bound flights out of Melbourne on Monday morning, with flights to Brisbane, Cairns, the Sunshine and Gold Coast Airports having all on the departures board.

Queensland border reopening facilitates new routes launching & old routes resuming

Jetstar's Gareth Evans says around 700 Qantas Group flights will operate in and out of Queensland this week - a seven-fold increase on last week. By Christmas, that number will increase to around 1,200 flights. Qantas and Jetstar operate 28 routes into Queensland from New South Wales and Victoria.

On Monday, the first flight into Queensland was a Jetstar flight out of Sydney, which landed on the Gold Coast at 06:30. One hour later, a Qantas flight landed in Brisbane. With the Queensland border reopened, several delayed route launches will kick off, and flights on other routes can resume.

Among others, Qantas is resuming the Sydney - Hamilton Island run, and QantasLink is resuming Sydney - Toowoomba Wellcamp. Jetstar is finally commencing its long-awaited Canberra - Brisbane flights later this week. Mackay Airport will also see the return of its first interstate flight in more than five years, with Jetstar’s new Mackay – Sydney service commencing later this week.

“We’re pleased to bring more people back to Queensland to support thousands of tourism and

hospitality operators who have had a tough time with border closures impacting their businesses," said Gareth Evans.

"The Queensland Government’s commitment to keep the borders open gives confidence to travellers and businesses."