Qantas has announced another increase to its international capacity ahead of additional aircraft returning to its fleet. Destinations with more capacity include New York, Los Angeles, Johannesburg and Bali. The Qantas Group is at around 80 percent of its pre-COVID international capacity levels, which has almost doubled in the past year. This is expected to reach 100 percent 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 airline has opened bookings for 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 percent 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 capacity will largely be made possible through the final two A380s returning to the Qantas fleet following heavy maintenance and cabin improvements.
Earlier, the airline had announced the addition of 1 million seats to its 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 will launch 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 to 2020 that were canceled 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 December 31 this year.
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