Canberra, May 31 (IANS): Australian flag carrier, Qantas announced on Monday that it plans to reward travellers with discounts and other incentives if they were vaccinated against Covid-19.

Among other things, flight vouchers and bonus points for Australian frequent flyers are planned, airline chief Alan Joyce told the Australian TV station 9News.

Special prizes are also to be raffled off, dpa news agency quoted quoted Joyce as saying.

"We are looking at giving 1,000 points flight vouchers, credits and we are going to offer 10 mega prizes, at least one for each state and territory, where a family of four get unlimited travel on the Qantas and Jetstar network, anywhere in the network for a year," he said.

He said the airline wanted the programme to encourage more Australians to get vaccinated.

Joyce invited other companies to follow Qantas' example.

So far, only about 2 per cent of the 25 million Australians are fully vaccinated.

At the same time, Joyce stressed that he was hopeful that some international services to and from Australia could be resumed by the end of the year.

He said Qantas was working with the Australian government and was already sprucing up aircraft and training crews.

The country's international borders have been closed since March 2020 in the wake of the pandemic, with exceptions only for residents and Australian citizens.

So far, only regular air traffic with New Zealand has resumed.

Both countries have so far been very successful in the fight against the coronavirus.