Qantas Airways has agreed to pay $79 million in compensation and a fine for selling tickets on thousands of cancelled flights.

Qantas Airways has lost its challenge to a court ruling that the Australian flag carrier had illegally fired 1,700 baggage handlers, cleaners and other ground staff at the height of pandemic travel disruptions.

The boss of Australian airline Qantas says he will leave his job immediately — two months earlier than planned — following a series of embarrassing revelations about the company, including allegations it sold tickets for flights that had already been canceled.

Qantas Airways has brought forward its plans to restart international travel from Sydney as Prime Minister Scott Morrison predicted tourists would be welcomed back to Australia this year.

Australia’s most populous state has reported a record 633 new infections as concerns grew about the delta variant’s spread beyond Sydney.

(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)CANBERRA – Qantas Airways does not expect to resume international travel apart from New Zealand until late October after the Australian population is vaccinated for COVID-19, the airline’s chief executive said on Thursday. The Sydney-based airline had been selling seats on international flights from July 1. But there has been a huge surge in COVID-19 cases around the world since those July flights went on sale in early January, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said. Qantas still expected a “material increase” in flights between Australia and New Zealand by July, Joyce said. AdQantas on Thursday posted a 1.47 billion Australian dollar ($1.17 billion) statutory loss for the six months through December and a AU$6.9 billion ($5.5 billion) fall in revenue due to pandemic restrictions.

Die-hard travelers in Australia embarked on a unique adventure on the “Great Southern Land” scenic flight. Qantas Airways' seven-hour flight from Sydney to Sydney took off Saturday. Passengers got a bird’s eye view of some of Australia’s iconic sites, like the great barrier reef. Middle seats on the flight were left empty so passengers could social distance. The experience is designed to be a morale booster for travelers yearning to fly again and the airline, which posted a nearly $1.5 billion loss earlier this year because of the pandemic.

Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce walks through the airline's headquarters following a results announcement in Sydney, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. Qantas Airways announced that the pandemic cost it 4 billion Australian dollars ($2.9 billion) in revenue in the last fiscal year and warned that international travel won't resume before mid 2021. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP)CANBERRA Qantas Airways said Thursday the pandemic cost it 4 billion Australian dollars ($2.9 billion) in revenue in the last fiscal year and warned that international travel won't resume before mid-2021. The airline recorded a AU$771 million ($554 million) pre-tax profit in the first half of the fiscal year before the pandemic struck. Joyce said Qantas was in a better financial position than many airlines to survive the pandemic.