Qantas' Airbus A330 flights between Perth and Auckland will run again this coming summer, but with the airline bringing the start date forward to spring.
From October 30 through December 6, QF111 is wheels up from Perth at 8:30pm on Fridays, arriving into Auckland at 8am the following morning.
On the return, QF112 will depart Auckland at 12:25pm on Sundays, touching down in Perth at 3pm on the same day.
That ramps up to twice-weekly from December 11 2015 until 26 March 2016, with services from Perth on Fridays and Saturdays and return flights from Auckland on Saturdays and Sundays – following the same timing as above.
Qantas Club members, Gold frequent flyers and passengers at the pointy end can make use of Qantas' business class lounges in both Perth and Auckland, while Platinum-grade members can instead relax in the Qantas First Lounge in Auckland.
Just don't expect what you'd find in the flagship Sydney or Melbourne lounges – the first class facilities in Auckland are similar to Qantas' aged First Lounge in Brisbane and come sans the day spa and a la carte restaurant.
These seasonal flights, which wind down from April 26 2015 before being revived in October, compete with Air New Zealand's daily Perth-Auckland flights on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Air New Zealand passengers can also utilise the Qantas international lounge in Perth through arrangements with Qantas, and the Air New Zealand Koru lounge in Auckland.
Also read: Qantas boosts A380 flights to Hong Kong, Dallas
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Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
16 May 2014
Total posts 99
They are obviously making money... surprise.
Wonder if they will end up handballing it to Emirates for a tack on flight.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Aug 2014
Total posts 503
EK is coming to PER with its A380 in May, I won't be surprised if they also start an A380 between Dubai-Perth-Auckland, they did the same to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
05 Oct 2011
Total posts 197
Wonder which seat layout this will be?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Feb 2015
Total posts 382
It's crazy how Air NZ can be daily but QF can only manage 1-2 flights a week for 4 months of the year!!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 May 2013
Total posts 372
My seniments exactly. On a smaller capacity aircraft too!
12 Feb 2014
Total posts 229
Heaps of Kiwis in Perth. Hazard a guess that a lot of the ANZ loadings would be FIFOs. Jetstar could probably make this work as a daily with one of their 787-8s. Downturn in mining though is biting deep. Be intreresting to see if either of these services survives as is.
04 Mar 2015
Total posts 17
Jetstar couldn't compete against Air NZ on the Adelaide and Cairns flights to Auckland, and as soon as Air NZ announced a return to Singapore, Jetstar pulled out.
Air NZ obviously have the best product and price for the market.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Aug 2014
Total posts 503
And its all covered by the NZ Govenment in terms of the near-monoply AirNZ have in NZ.
04 Mar 2015
Total posts 17
NZ is a small market. There have been other operators (Ansett NZ, Qantas NZ, Origin Pacific) who have failed.
Jetstar flew more domestic routes in NZ, but again couldn't compete and withdrew.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Jan 2013
Total posts 698
If it's all refurbished A330-300s by then (or would they put on an A330-200 for this? I wouldn't think so) it could be a fairly nice jaunt in J, especially if not priced not too high.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 May 2014
Total posts 464
Given the QF 111 departs PER on a Friday night it is probably an A330-200 that isn't needed on the PER domestic routes on the weekend.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Aug 2014
Total posts 503
This could be a small step towards Perthtization, they will experiment with PER-AKL and then maybe (I hope) move onto Singapore or somewhere.
I know they won't do Perth-Dubai, reason is pretty obvious (EK A380) but I hope Perth gets some Asian routes, Perth QF PAX surely deserve it back.
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