Qantas wants to bring the 787 back to Brisbane-LAX
There’ll be no tears shed if Brisbane can ditch its Airbus A330 flight to Los Angeles.
By David Flynn, July 17 2024
Executive Traveller exclusive
Qantas plans to upgrade some international routes while launching new ones in early 2025 as its last two A380 superjumbos return to the skies.
The arrival of these superjumbos will create a knock-on effect which frees up other Qantas jets such as the Boeing 787 and in turn the Airbus A330, Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson tells Executive Traveller.
“We’ve got two more A380s to come back; they are getting their heavy check and being reconfigured, they’re back at the beginning of next year, they’re the last two to come back.”
Speaking on the sidelines of this week’s launch of direct flights to Paris, Hudson says her team is now working through the possibilities.
“You deploy the A380s onto routes that have 787s, and then you re-deploy the 787s. I'd love to see the 787 on Brisbane-LA,” Hudson shares of this route which now suffers with an older A330.
Hudson’s desire to upgrade Brisbane-Los Angeles comes as the trans-Pacific corridor is primed for a fresh surge of competition.
Delta Air Lines will launch a seasonal service between Brisbane and Los Angeles from December 2024 to March 2025, with its modern Airbus A350 crowned by private Delta One business class suites.
Qantas’ Oneworld partner American Airlines is likewise starting a seasonal link between Brisbane and Dallas from October 2024 through to late March 2025.
However, United Airlines has no plans to restart its own Brisbane-Los Angeles flights.
Qantas to fly Perth-Auckland?
Hudson also nominated Perth-Auckland as a fresh opportunity for the Boeing 787, saying she’d “love to see Perth-Auckland because it will connect to our New York flights.”
“So we’re thinking all the time about how do we make sure that we get the right connections that maximise the advantage that we’ve got with our domestic network and then how we feed that onto international.”
Qantas once connected Perth and Auckland on a seasonal basis, with an Airbus A330 taking on the six-hour journey.
The route is now flown all year round only by Air New Zealand, but Qantas could stand to benefit from traffic in both directions.
Perth residents could choose Qantas over rival Air New Zealand for trips to Auckland as well as flying onwards to New York.
At the same time, Kiwis could catch the red-tailed Dreamliner from Auckland to Perth to join Qantas’ non-stop marathons to London, Paris and Rome.
03 May 2021
Total posts 51
I hope they do. Using the a330 on a flight to America is honestly just appalling.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Mar 2017
Total posts 39
Bris based here- flew LAX BNE on the 330. Its not as bad as everyone makes out. Economy on the 787 is super tight/cramped. So have chosen to fly via SYD on my next 3 trips to the US *shrugs*
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 May 2013
Total posts 140
Last two times i did this leg in J, IFE was not working on one trip, the other trip, the seat had a massive bulge on the back, which could not be fixed, so i could not lie down or even lean on it, the seats are very old, even with the padding they provide for sleep. The truth is BNE is getting a lot of love from the competition, so QF need to act on it, or they may end up losing premium customers.
26 Mar 2020
Total posts 68
To be fair - if your in economy the A330 is atually a win due to the 2-4-2 confirguration for solo or couples.
It means usually a row to yourself on the side or if you have to sit next to someone only one person between you and the aisle if seated in the window.
Downsides is that the aircraft is older and less modern and smaller (in terms of fuselarge and toilets and yes ive mispelt fuselarge)
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1196
AKL-PER-LHR is a longer distance than going via SIN using SQ or LAX/SFO on AA or UA though, admittedly, the US options do involve a problematic US transit. Likewise PER-AKL-JFK is only about 30 minutes flying time quicker than PER-DXB-JFK. I think I'd prefer EK's A380s all-the-way compared with QF's 787s regardless of what class I was travelling in.
01 Dec 2012
Total posts 56
For Perth to New York there's also PER-HKG-JFK on Cathay. Pre-pandemic, I did it and it was quick and convenient. So if PER-AKL comes off, there will be two viable one-stop One World options to the Big Apple.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
01 Nov 2016
Total posts 130
Back in Nov was booked on QF12 which was cancelled and was put on QF16 to Brisbane. Was a comfortable flight and crew on board were very good. Yes the 787 is newer and nicer but the A330 is not bad at all.
09 Nov 2018
Total posts 9
The A330 in economy is probably better than the 787 which is (or at least feels) a bit more snug.
27 Jul 2018
Total posts 1
Qantas bringing the PER-AKL flight back as Batik operate a very popular 5th freedom flight.
31 Mar 2014
Total posts 385
Pretty sure the Batik flight has been canned already
13 May 2020
Total posts 806
it seems 1 or more of the A332s on the akl/bne/lax/bne/akl service is very old & tired. Delta is going to clean up with it's BNELAX A350 service. Already United has grabbed a lot of BNE/USA with it's daily BNE/SFO service.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
09 Aug 2016
Total posts 36
That's what people said when UA launched BNE-LAX, yet the route was canned after 6 months.
13 May 2020
Total posts 806
fiji air are dumping seats but only through travel agents. Peak season in school holidays in January from only $1599 bne lax bne
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