Western Australia will not reopen borders next month, the state’s Premier Mark McGowan has announced.

The borders were due to reopen on 5 February, but it’s understood the plan has been pushed back to allow for more of the region’s population to get their COVID booster.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce described the delay as ‘concerning’ and the company said 20,000 had booked with either Qantas or Jetstar to arrive in Perth in the first week of opening.

“February 5 was supposedly ‘locked in’ to give certainty,” he said. “Tens of thousands of people booked travel on that basis and we brought a lot of our people back to work on that basis,” Mr Joyce said.