Qantas has announced a further domestic expansion with 7 new flights. The airline has also confirmed that it will be deploying widebody aircrafts on domestic routes.
Townsville: a big winner
Qantas has announced a total of 3 new routes from Townsville, Queensland. These flights will see Embraer E190 aircraft that Qantas recently wet-leased from Brisbane-based Alliance Airlines. Thrice-weekly flights from Townsville to Adelaide will start from August 2021 while daily flights to Sydney and Melbourne will start from September 2021.
More E190 services
Starting August, Qantas will operate 4-times-a-week flights between Adelaide and Cairns on E190 and from the following month, the Australian flag carrier will start daily service between Adelaide and Hobart.
Additional domestic flights
In addition, Qantas will also launch thrice-weekly flights between Perth and Gold Coast in September using Boeing B737-800 and 5-times-a-week service between Sydney and Uluru in March 2022.
Andrew David, CEO, Domestic and International, Qantas, 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.
More wide bodies on domestic routes
Fans of Qantas’ wide body aircrafts have some good news. While Qantas already deploys Airbus A330 on high-demand markets like Sydney-Cairns, Qantas has announced today that it will deploy the bigger planes on 4 more routes. The good news is that it will deploy its flagship Boeing B787 Dreamliner on one route.
There are a total of 34 weekly flights between Sydney and Perth of which up to 9 will be operated by B787 and up to 4 will be operated by A330. Between Melbourne and Perth, Qantas planes fly 37-times-a-week out of which up to 24 will be flown by A330.
Darwin is getting some attention from Qantas. There will be up to 7 A330 weekly flights from Sydney out of the 12 weekly flights and up to 3 A330 weekly flights out of the 9 return services between Brisbane and Darwin.
Andrew David added:
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.
What’s the big deal of A330s and B787s?
Until the onset of the pandemic, it was possible to catch a Dreamliner flight between Melbourne and Perth as the same aircraft would then operate the Perth-London Heathrow flight.
Qantas’ A330 and B787 offer a far more better inflight experience than the B737. If you are flying in the front of the plane, you will be up for a great experience as both the aircrafts feature lie-flat business suite.
Fares are available from today with Qantas offering special fares including $139 on Adelaide-Hobart, $179 on Sydney-Townsville and $229 Perth-Gold Coast. Special fares are available at qantas.com or through Travel Agents, until 11:59pm 27 May, unless sold out prior.
Meanwhile, a few days ago, Qantas announced a special one-off B787 Supermoon Scenic flight.
Featured image by Qantas
What do you think of Qantas’ latest expansion and increase wide body presence within Australia? Let me know in the comments section below.
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