Qantas beginning Oct. 29 will add about 1 million seats to its international network over 12 months compared with its current schedule, the carrier announced Friday. Restoring more planes to service, adding new aircraft, and a leasing arrangement with Finnair to operate two Airbus A330 aircraft on two Qantas routes will help accommodate the changes.
The network changes will bring Qantas' capacity to 100 percent of pre-Covid-19 levels by March 2024, up from 84 percent now and 44 percent a year ago, according to the carrier.
The announcement comes as Qantas prepares to resume San Francisco flights this week and launch service from Sydney to New York via Auckland in June, a month in which the carrier will also resume seasonal service to Rome and flights between Melbourne and Hong Kong.
The expanded service starting in October include increasing the Melbourne-Los Angeles frequency to nine times per week from daily and increasing the new Sydney-New York via Auckland service to four from three times per week.
For Japan, the Sydney-Tokyo route will double to twice daily, Melbourne-Tokyo will increase to daily from four times weekly, and Brisbane-Tokyo will increase to daily from three times weekly. The latter two routes will move to Narita International Airport.
For Hong Kong and China, daily Sydney-Shanghai flights will resume for the first time in more than three years using Airbus A330 aircraft. Capacity on Sydney-Hong Kong flights will increase by more than 50 percent for the peak Australian summer season, with daily flights to be operated by a mix of Airbus A380 and A330 aircraft. Melbourne-Hong Kong routes will increase to daily from four per week.
In addition, from March 31, 2024, the Melbourne-Singapore route will operate twice daily from 10 times per week, and the Sydney-Singapore route will operate 15 times per week, up one from 14. Melbourne-Delhi flights will increase to six times per week from three over the peak Australian summer season.
Covid-19 credits can be used when booking Qantas flights, according to the carrier. Qantas in March extended the travel expiration date for these credits, giving customers until Dec. 19, 2024, to complete their travel provided they book by Dec. 31, 2023. Qantas allows advanced bookings for a maximum of 353 days.