Qantas flight cancellations could impact remodelled Super Rugby

Qantas Airlines Limited, which includes low-cost unit Jetstar, announced on Thursday it would suspend all overseas and cut domestic flights by 60 per cent from late March.

It comes just a day after Virgin Australia announced it would suspend all international flights from March 30 until June 14.

If other airline companies are forced to ground their fleet, it would likely rule out any chances of Super Rugby continuing in its current structure given Australian teams would struggle to leave the country.

SANZAAR, the governing body of Super Rugby, declined to comment when contacted by The Canberra Times.

Super Rugby has been suspended for at least two weeks due to the New Zealand and Australian governments' decision to enforce a 14-day quarantine period for travellers.

Plans for a remodelled competition could be revealed in the coming days, which is likely to change the format to have three inter-conference derbies for the rest of the season.

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But the reduction of domestic flights has now put pressure on Super Rugby and Rugby Australia's plans for an inter-conference derby due to limited flight options.

The ACT Brumbies, who generally fly with Qantas, have been thrown a curveball with the significant reduction of domestic flights to and from Canberra Airport.

Canberra will have 131 fewer Qantas flights every week, including a reduction of 77 return flights from Sydney.

Melbourne to Canberra flights have been scaled back from 67 a week to 38, while those from Brisbane were cut from 35 a week to 15.

The Brumbies would only need to fly to Brisbane to play the Queensland Reds, while they could catch the bus to meet the NSW Waratahs and the Melbourne Rebels.

Brumbies prop Scott Sio concedes the flight suspension could have a huge impact on the competition but says the club will do whatever it takes to keep the season alive.

"It's going to have a huge effect on how we do things in terms of travel," Sio said.

"There's going to be a lot that comes into play if we do go ahead with a domestic competition as well, there's always a big risk factor going forward.

"We've just to try and do our best with what we've got and I think hopefully, there's some rugby to be played in the coming months.

"Charted flights could be an option, or we could take a bus earlier in the week or go with a different airline.

"There has to be a lot of help from SANZAAR to keep the competition alive, and if that means we have to take a bus to Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane, or bus it half-way to Brisbane and then fly - I know all Super Rugby franchises will work hard together to make it work.

"Whatever comes our way, we know we've done well to deal with it as a group, adjust and adapt."

The Brumbies have won five of their first six games this year despite a string of off-field distractions, including bushfire smoke, thunderstorms, mumps and now coronavirus.

"It's not ideal, it's sort of how our season has gone," Sio said.

"The country was in a lot of strife earlier in the year with the bushfires, it forced a lot of people to move and deal with that initially. Now the coronavirus and the whole world is suffering.

"It's been a really big year for everyone, Australia especially. It's really about how the country and the team move forward and build after this.

"Hopefully we can stem the spread of coronavirus in the next month or two, and hopefully day-to-day living gets back in order. It's a bit of an unknown at the moment isn't it?"

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