Qantas announced another increase to its international capacity ahead of additional aircraft returning to its fleet. Destinations with more capacity announced include New York, Los Angeles, Johannesburg and Bali.
The Qantas Group is currently at around 80 per cent of its pre-COVID international capacity levels, which has almost doubled in the past year. This is expected to reach 100 per cent by March 2024, with this additional flying taking it beyond that level from July 2024 onwards.
Qantas has received three long-awaited Boeing 787s in recent months and is gradually able to return more of its Airbus A380s to service as they complete post-storage maintenance, which is enabling flying levels to steadily increase to meet strong travel demand.
The national carrier is publishing more than 250,000 additional seats* to and from Australia that includes:
- Sydney-Bali – larger Airbus A330 aircraft will replace daily Boeing 737 flights from October this year with more premium seats and fully-flat beds in Business Class.
- Sydney-Auckland-New York – following the successful launch of the new route in June this year, flights will increase from four per week to daily from August 2024.
- Sydney-Johannesburg – for the first time Qantas A380s will operate to South Africa from July 2024, nearly doubling capacity during peak periods.
- Melbourne-Los Angeles – capacity will increase by around 20 per cent with more A380 flights on the route from July 2024.
- Sydney-Los Angeles – flights will increase from eight to nine per week from July 2024, operated with a mix of 787 and A380 aircraft.
Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said the additional flying would help support the sustained demand for international travel and provide a boost to the tourism industry.
“Hundreds of thousands of extra seats on our network is great news for our customers planning their next overseas trip,” said Wallace.
“We know our customers are looking for great value and this additional capacity will put more downward pressure on fares.
“The additional capacity will largely be made possible through our final two A380s returning to the Qantas fleet following heavy maintenance and cabin improvements.”
UPCOMING NETWORK CHANGES
The announcement follows the previously-announced one million seats being added to the airline’s network over the next year with new routes, larger aircraft and more flights to popular destinations.
The previously announced routes commencing in the coming months include:
- Sydney-Shanghai resuming in late October, operating for the first time in more than three years.
- Brisbane-Honiara and Brisbane-Wellington launching in late October.
Customers can use COVID credits when booking Qantas flights. In June, Qantas launched an online Find My Credit tool to help reunite customers with bookings dating back to 2020 that were cancelled due to sudden and repeat border closures. The travel expiry date for these credits has been extended, giving customers an extra 12 months to travel provided they book by 31 December this year.
