Qantas has suffered a $100 million hit to its first quarter earnings after several states closed their borders in July in response to Victoria’s COVID-19 outbreak. Chief executive Alan Joyce on Oct 23 said the states’ decisions had delayed Qantas’ recovery. He had expected domestic services to be operating at 60 percent of pre-COVID levels. Yet the border closures, which include Queensland and Western Australia, mean domestic services are operating below 30 percent of previous levels. Joyce told shareholders at Qantas’ annual general meeting that if Queensland opened to NSW soon, he expected domestic capacity to improve to up to 50 percent. “We’re expecting to see a boom in domestic tourism once more borders open up,” he said. The airline aims to save $600 million this financial year to stay viable. It’s cut 6000 workers, is likely to cut 2000 ground handling crew and has stood down 18,000 staff. Chair …