Australia will reopen to fully vaccinated international tourists on February 21, ending a near two-year travel ban that has ravaged the local airline and tourism industries. The border reopening was announced on Monday following a National Security Committee of Cabinet meeting in Canberra.

Fully vaccinated travelers welcome

To date, only Australian citizens and permanent residents, their families, and those with certain visas and exemptions are allowed to enter. That's severely curtailed the ability of airlines to fill their planes. As a result, airlines in Australia and airlines flying to Australia have struggled to gain much lift over the usually busy Southern Hemisphere summer.

“The condition is you must be double vaccinated to come to Australia. That's the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it," said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday.

"But if you’re double vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back to Australia, and I know the tourism industry will be looking forward to that.”

It's the news Australia's airlines and airports were waiting for. In an upbeat statement, Brisbane Airport said, "Today’s announcement gives much-needed certainty to airports, airlines, tourism operators, and everyone involved in the international visitation industry."

Entry with a minimum of fuss

Except for Western Australia, all Australian states and territories will welcome inbound travelers with minimal fuss. Proof of vaccination status and a pre-departure COVID test is required before flying out. Generally, most states and territories will require you to take an on-arrival test, go straight to your accommodation and wait for a result. Some states and territories allow a rapid antigen test in place of the far slower PCR test.

Western Australia is maintaining its hermit kingdom closed border rule. It's a position that caused Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to liken the state to North Korea late last week. However, how much longer Western Australia can hold out is anyone's guess. The closed border rule remains popular with a large section of the local population there. Monday's news saw the Qantas boss put a cheerier spin on things.

"This is fantastic news for our people and our customers," said Mr Joyce on Monday. "We know there are lots of international tourists who want to come to Australia. There are also a lot of business travellers who will finally be able to be in the same room as their customers or local teams after almost two years apart. This means they can now book to come here with confidence.

"We will be looking at our schedules to see if we can restart flights from more international destinations sooner or add capacity to those routes we are already flying. We have the flexibility to ramp up flights in response to demand.”

A couple of small barriers of airlines to overcome

One of the biggest foreign airlines operating into Australia is Singapore Airlines. They've maintained flights throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A two-way travel corridor is already in operation between Australia and Singapore. However, today's decision will potentially give the passenger numbers on SQ's Australia-bound flights some serious lift.

"Singapore Airlines welcomes today’s announcement by the Australian Prime Minister that Australia’s international border will open to fully vaccinated arrivals,” Singapore Airlines' Regional Public Affairs and Government Relations Manager Karl Schubert told Simple Flying. "Singapore Airlines will continue to remain nimble in the deployment of capacity to meet demand as restrictions ease and confidence returns to the travel industry."

But a few details need to be nutted out before the airline has full commercial confidence about beefing up its Australian operations. Mr Schubert says Australia's State Governments need to work out the "little nuanced differences" concerning on arrival testing regimes not just for passengers but for airline crews.

"If a crew member laying over in one state tests positive, the entire outbound flight is canceled. But if a crew member in another state tests positive, the aircraft is allowed to fly out and operate as per normal with the negative crew members," he told ABC Radio National on Monday.

"Ultimately, we need to work with the State Governments to make sure we can have the confidence that when we operate into a particular destination, the requirements on us in that destination are the same whether we are going into Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Adelaide. There needs to be consistency."