Qantas Boeing 787 to fly Sydney-Auckland

By David Flynn, June 19 2019
Qantas Boeing 787 to fly Sydney-Auckland

Trans-Tasman travellers will be treated to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on selected Sydney-Auckland flights across the peak summer season when Qantas sends its red-tailed Dreamliner across the pond.

The Dreamliner dates are 4 December 2019 to 28 March 2020.

The flight to look for from Sydney to Auckland is QF141, which departs Sydney at 7.10am to arrive into Auckland at 12.15pm; the return leg is QF144, which is wheels-up from Auckland at 1.15pm and reaches Sydney at 2.55pm.

Interestingly, Qantas will be selling premium economy on those flights – an initial sale fare pegs those better-than-economy seats at $299 each way – while passengers will also be able to use their frequent flyer points to upgrade from economy.

On routes which typically don't see premium economy – and this includes all Qantas flights to and from New Zealand – the occasional appearance of premium economy due to a different aircraft being flown is usually handled by allowing top-tier frequent flyers booked into economy to pre-select a seat in the premium economy cabin.

David

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.

Etihad - Etihad Guest

19 Jun 2019

Total posts 21

What a great deal. Just brought one. QF should keep this all year around. I used to fly NZ prem Y as I don't think business is worth the price tag.

31 Mar 2014

Total posts 379

That is a seriously premium heavy plane to send across the ditch

30 Nov 2017

Total posts 4

Would imagine the 4 new planes expected are being delivered at this time and may not have enough to start their new routes. Send the plane over to prevent it sitting around Sydney for the day before sending it overnight somewhere.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

26 May 2014

Total posts 467

This also shows the start of SYD based 787s. Guessing these will move to SYD-SFO.

30 Nov 2017

Total posts 4

Flight to San Fran leaves at 17.40 so would assume the frame would be used for this leg next

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

11 Jan 2017

Total posts 13

A 7:10am Dept from Sydney! What about Melbourne?

31 Mar 2014

Total posts 379

What about Perth. What about Adelaide. What about Wagga Wagga.

There is always one...

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

29 Nov 2013

Total posts 478

No one ever thinks about Wagga Wagga.


Toowoomba gets flights to/from Sydney - why can't Wagga Wagga have flights to Auckland?

P1
P1

24 Apr 2017

Total posts 80

Bring back the Emirates A380 :)

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

30 Apr 2013

Total posts 17

I don't like the idea of a Dreamliner. I don't trust it. There were the fire troubles that led to its grounding a few years ago. Huge banks of lithium batteries under the floor. The plastic composite airframe. Plus, the squishiest seats in the sky, with the narrowest width.

Etihad - Etihad Guest

23 Apr 2019

Total posts 8

I've flown 12 hour flights in economy on a Dreamliner. I survived. Composite worries? Then don't fly any new aircraft including the A350. You might have to swim everywhere within a few years.

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

30 Apr 2013

Total posts 17

But the Dreamliner is made of baked barrels. What sort of aircraft has built in fireplaces to contain lithium fires? And even the fire extinguishers on its engines often don't work properly.

28 Sep 2017

Total posts 7

Sorry, but what is a "baked barrel" please?

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

30 Apr 2013

Total posts 17

It's different to baked beans. The 787 is made with giant composite plastic barrels, or cylinders. They have to be baked in massive kilns as single-piece cylinders. It makes it harder to find cracks or faults, and even more difficult to repair them.


The other main composite-plastic airliner, the Airbus A350XWB uses smaller composite panels that can be replaced if needed.

15 Sep 2012

Total posts 93

Where is this spare 787 coming from? Thought they were all used on long distance flights.

12 Dec 2012

Total posts 1027

They currently have 8. 4 are used for LHR-PER-MEL-US and return.
The other 4 are used for BNE-LAX (10 weekly), LAX-JFK (daily) and and BNE/SYD-HKG (8 weekly).

6 more have been ordered. These are due to start arriving around Oct/Nov. They should have at least 2 in service by the start of December which allows SYD-SFO to become 787.

The dates listed for these SYD-AKL 787 flights cover the period when they should have half of the new batch, but not ready to start the new BNE-SFO/ORD routes.

In short, this would be operated by the 11th Qantas 787-9 between delivery and being sent to the new BNE routes in April.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

04 Nov 2017

Total posts 327

The BNE-ORD/SFO routes are being worked with their existing 4x BNE-based 789s. It won't be dependant on any of the new 6 789s which are SYD based.

The x3 weekly QF55/56 BNE-LAX terminators will be axed, and the BNE/SYD-HKG flights will be replaced by A330 to accomodate the BNE-ORD/SFO flying within the x4 BNE based 789s.

Etihad - Etihad Guest

07 May 2019

Total posts 1

I believe this is coming from SYD-HKG (QF127/128) as that is going to an A380 over the peak Christmas period, which has been customary for at least the last few years

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

01 Nov 2016

Total posts 129

Good use of aircraft time. Makes more money in the air than sitting on the ground. Will come in from SFO and then head across to AKL and back to SYD before going back to SFO.

26 Feb 2014

Total posts 14

Don't worry..let's use the star trek enterprise composites so no one will be scared to fly...geeezzzzz!

06 Dec 2014

Total posts 27

I'm flying BNE/PER on QF589 on September 20th. The aircraft is listed as a 787/9. As usual I bought flexible economy and requested an upgrade to business class. As a Gold FF this is usually done immediately but this time I'm in the queue. I wonder why? Anyway it's interesting to see the Dreamliner heading west from Brissie as opposed to east.

10 Jul 2018

Total posts 105

If there is no business reward seat availability for that flight, then the upgrade won't be immediate.


If a business reward seat later becomes available, you can call to upgrade immediately as it won't happen automatically.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

24 Apr 2015

Total posts 8

Carbon Fibre composites have been used on all modern aircraft for a number of years now. Boeing and Airbus use this in the manufacture of flight control surfaces, panels, doors and fairings. It is now used in the fuselage of the 787 and A350 as it is a strong and rigid material that doesn't suffer the corrosion and fatigue issues that Alclad does.

Modern Formula One race cars are also (and more so) largely constructed from carbon fibre composite. They have a crash record which would be totally unacceptable in commercial aviation. On the other hand, man-hole access covers are mostly manufactured from cast iron. They have an exemplary integrity record. Go figure.


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