Qantas has added over 250,000 international seats with the recent delivery of three Boeing 787 Dreamliners and the gradual return of more Airbus A380s. The additional aircraft will facilitate more capacity to New York, Los Angeles, Johannesburg and Bali.
On Monday (August 21, 2023), Qantas announced the addition of over 250,000 international seats as the carrier gradually returns their Airbus A380s, and also recently took delivery of three long-awaited Boeing 787 Dreamliners. With the added aircraft, the carrier will increase capacity on routes to New York, Los Angeles, Johannesburg and Bali. Currently, the Qantas Group is operating at approximately 80 percent of pre-pandemic international capacity, and the company expects to restore 100 percent capacity by March 2024.
In Monday’s announcement, Qantas International’s CEO, Cam Wallace, said,
“Hundreds of thousands of extra seats on our network is great news for our customers planning their next overseas trip. 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.”
On the Sydney-Bali route, Qantas will upguage daily 737 service to an Airbus A330, offering more premium seats and fully lie-flat Business Class seats. Sydney-Auckland-New York service will increase from four flights weekly to daily service from August 2024. For the first time, Qantas will also deploy Airbus A380s between Sydney to Johannesburg from July 2024, nearly doubling peak period capacity. Flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles will be increased by around 20 percent with more A380s deployed on the route from July 2024, while Sydney-Los Angeles flights will increase from eight to nine weekly from July 2024 utilizing a mix of Boeing 787s and Airbus A380s.
Today’s announcement follows the carrier’s previously announced addition of one million seats across their network over the next year with new routes, larger aircraft and more flights to popular destinations. Routes starting in the coming months include the resumption of Sydney-Shanghai service and flights from Brisbane to Honiara and Wellington from late October. When booking travel, Qantas customers can use COVID credits. In June, the carrier launched an online ‘Find My Credit’ tool to help customers find their bookings back to 2020 that were canceled due to sudden and repeat border closures. The travel expiration for these credits has also been extended until December 31, 2023.
Source: Qantas