Lack of QF flights and A330s PER>East Coast

I was planning travel from Perth to Melbourne after borders come down post Feb-5.. the only A330 flight available is red eye and even then there's only 3 other QF flights and operated by B737. Virgin has 6 direct flights on the day I am looking at.

I thought Qantas wanted the market share? I haven't looked into too much detail but I assume if Melbourne has only 1 A330 then Syd and Brisbane have minimal too if anyone else has seen this.. which makes me question if this is the new norm since QF have dropped number of A330 aircraft and only need to compete with Virgin B737s now?

Yes

Note Perth still has a closed border so few entry permits at the moment. The A330 will return when loads are enough to warrant it. The A330s are quite busy with the international schedule.

If they are busy with the intl schedule then what replaces the international aircraft? Mind you flights I'm looking for are well post border opening date - all the airlines in the past have scheduled flights and aircraft well in advance to capture demand. At the moment it looks like Qantas is very conservative or not willing to schedule more flights and larger aircraft.

There are three new 787s and a few A380s returning in the middle of the year which will reduce the pressure on the A330s to possibly do some domestic work. Business flights will be down until the bug gets sorted out some more. I have some work flights to Canberra I probably won’t need as we continue to zoom.

I think you'll find QAN is gunshy and won't starting ramping up flights good and proper until the borders have opened. This has been their playbook for previous border restrictions. Too many issues with having to cancel flights and manage credits whilst the borders are the unknown. Lets hope WA Govt sticks to their reopening plan...

If you are the only 'game in town' that has wide body aircraft you can do what you want. And if it is 737 v 737/320 price, schedule and service will become the deciding factor!

Perth demand would be minimal until February at least. Exemptions on the WA border if I recall are very minimal.

Why would you fly a gas guzzling A330 on a route that barely fills a 737?

Simple economics.

The original poster stated that they were looking later than February. Would have thought if QF were looking at reinstating pre-COVID capacity, they would be increasing the number of 330s on EC to PER after that date.

I think Qantas is a bit gun-shy after WA has been closed for so long and it has NO way of predicting demand after this long, so it simply isn't willing to roll the dice on putting a bunch of A330s onto the east-west routes, not until the reopening of WA gets closer and Qantas can see a noticeable increase in people looking for and making PER bookings. This is something Qantas has mentioned for other interstate and post-lockdown travel when it's put a lot of flights back on. PER is just a case of "wait and see".

Plenty of A330 flights to Perth scheduled for the re-opening day. A friend was originally booked on a 737 and it was changed to an A330. I expect Q will continue to adjust aircraft allocations according to demand. Flights to Perth might be lightly loaded prior to Feb 5, but flights back are busier with people returning east for work and study. Some even taking a punt that they can holiday in the east and return to Perth on Feb 5.

Will the border really open on Feb 5???? I have seen numerous comments regarding the non issue of border passes for dates after Feb 5. The way the WA govt has approached the covid cases in the other states, my thinking that the borders will remain closed..so all the worry about whether the plans is an A330 of 737 (800) will be truly irrelevant.

And... It looks like being conservative was the correct position.