Qantas has launched seven new routes including service from Townsville to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as from Adelaide to Cairns/Hobart, Sydney-Uluru and Perth Gold-Coast. The airline is also introducing Boeing 787 service on domestic routes.
On Tuesday (May 25, 2021), Qantas announced the launch of seven new routes, as well as the introduction of Boeing 787 Dreamliner service on routes between Australian capital cities. The new routes include service between Townsville and Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as flight from Adelaide to Cairns/Hobart, Sydney-Uluru and Perth-Gold Coast. The new routes expand the offer from Qantas and Jetstar since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic to 45 new routes. Five of the new routes will be operated with Embraer E190s as part of QantasLink’s partnership with Alliance Airlines. Today, the first flights operated under the partnership with 94-seat E-190s took off between Adelaide, Darwin and Alice Springs.
In Tuesday’s announcement, Qantas’ Domestic and International CEO, Andrew David, said,
“As most international travel remains off limits for now, Australians are taking more regular holidays within the country and we expect these new direct flights to key tourism destinations will be popular with travellers. Our customers now have 45 more routes to fly than we had pre-COVID making it even easier for them to get to their next holiday or business meeting. Previously, travelling between these cities meant a connecting flight in the middle, but now they can fly direct and save at least an hour in the process. Our strategy of adding new domestic routes is generating revenue from our aircraft rather than leaving them on the ground. It means more work for our people and even more low fares for our customers.
“We know how popular the 787s and A330s are with our customers on our international network and we think there will be huge demand for the domestic flights these aircraft operate on, particularly frequent flyers looking to use points. Qantas is also the only airline in Australia operating these widebody aircraft which offer Business Suites and inflight entertainment for all customers. People know exactly what to expect when they book with Qantas, whether its complimentary food and drinks, baggage or access to 33 lounges around Australia.”
As Mr. David mentioned, Qantas is also introducing more widebody service with Business Suites from East Coast capital cities to Perth and Darwin. For example, the carrier is offering up to nine weekly Sydney-Perth flights with a 236-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, an aircraft usually used on long-haul international routes such as Perth-London. Additionally, Qantas A330-200s, usually used on routes to Asia, will operate on more flights into Darwin from Sydney and Brisbane, as well as routes into Perth from Sydney and Melbourne. With the schedule and capacity expansion announced today, Qantas’ capacity will exceed 100 percent of the pre-pandemic levels, with the Group’s market share reaching approximately 70 percent.
Source: Qantas