Qantas shakes up European flights
One of the biggest changes sees Perth-Paris move to a Sydney-Singapore-Paris route.
By Staff Writers, March 27 2026
Qantas will reshape its long-haul network to Europe, boosting capacity and reworking routings as demand surges and travellers look to avoid traditional transit hubs in the Middle East, amid safety concerns linked to the Iran war.
From mid-April through to late July, the Flying Kangaroo will progressively roll out a series of changes designed to add up to 1,400 extra seats to Europe each week – while also tweaking how passengers get there.
Paris via Singapore
The most noticeable change will see the Sydney-Perth-Paris flight temporarily become a Sydney-Singapore-Paris service.
That change will allow for roughly 60 additional passengers per flight, while the timetable itself will be boosted from three to five days per week.
To support these connections, Perth–Singapore services will rise from daily to ten flights per week, timed to better align with onward services to Europe.
Daily flights to London, Rome
Flights between Perth and Rome will ramp up from four times weekly to a daily schedule, marking a significant increase on one of Qantas’ newer European routes.
Qantas will maintain its existing Perth–London schedule via Singapore, while the return London–Perth leg continues as a non-stop service.
For travellers already booked on any impacted flights, Qantas says affected customers will be contacted directly and offered alternative flights within 24 hours of their original departure time, or a full refund.
Qantas’ moves reflects a broader travel shift towards southern gateways and Asian stopovers, with many passengers opting to avoid transiting through the Middle East amid ongoing instability in the region.
The airline is instead leaning into routes via Singapore and non-stop options from Perth, both of which have proven popular with Australian travellers heading to Europe.
Fleet reshuffle frees up long-range aircraft
Behind the scenes, this European expansion is being enabled by a broader fleet reshuffle.
Qantas is moving its Boeing 787 Dreamliners from US routes, including services such as Brisbane–Los Angeles, while also shifting Airbus A330 aircraft from domestic routes onto international flying.
Some transcontinental services, including Sydney–Perth and Melbourne–Perth, have already seen the twin-aisle A330s replaced by Boeing 737s.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Aug 2014
Total posts 184
Can someone tell me how switching Sydney-Perth-Paris to Sydney-Singapore-Paris enables 60 more passengers per flight while still on the same aircraft? My only guess is that due to Middle East air space closures they have recently been sending the Perth-Paris leg with 60 seats blocked out in economy? If that's the case then that would have been making a very comfortable ride for those in economy with every passenger able to have an empty seat beside them.
30 Jan 2015
Total posts 26
How does this add sixtyish pax per flight? Does PER<>CDG go out part-empty for weight reasons? Presumably LHR is the same distance; FCO might be a little shorter.
03 Mar 2023
Total posts 60
@hakkinen I would think it's because the Perth to Paris flight is quite a bit longer, so they can't fully load the aircraft with passengers. From Singapore they can fully load it with passengers. I believe the London route from Perth also carries fewer passengers than available seats.
I think Singapore makes so much more sense for these European flights for people from the east coast. For a start you have to collect your bags and re-check them in Perth if you're flying to Brisbane. You don't via Singapore.
20 Sep 2017
Total posts 13
Paris to Singapore has a flight time of about 13 hours. Paris to Perth is about 16 hours.
01 Dec 2012
Total posts 88
PER-SIN-PER passengers need to be a wary about which of the extra flights between those cities they book in coming months. Some new ones will be operated by 787s but on some, 737s are rostered for the five hour+ leg
29 Jan 2012
Total posts 221
Nice to see QF is removing the 787 from it's BNE to LAX route and returning to the A330's. Haven't we already been down this road and it was a disaster then. Lets not forget the good old Perth to SYD and MEL flights returning to tired old 737's. Qantas is losing ground quickly.
QF's a330's should have been retired years ago and kept the 747's a few years longer. No forward thinking.
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