Weak demand in October and November is the reason given by Qantas for its decision to cancel five round-trip services between Dubai and London Heathrow.
The airline currently operates two daily A380 flights on the route, one of which originates in Sydney and the other in Melbourne.
It means that on five days in October and November there will be just a single A380 flight operated by Qantas between the Dubai and LHR.
Qantas passengers from either Sydney or Melbourne (at the time of writing it is not sure which route will be affected and on which date) will find that their A380 service will terminate in Dubai.
From there, they will be switched to a regular Emirates scheduled A380 which will continue to London.
The dates in question, departing Dubai, are October 14 and 17 and November 12, 15 and 20.
But Qantas' rearrangement of its London schedules takes away its through-plane selling point. It means that, on the dates in question, Qantas in effect becomes an indirect carrier where passengers and their bags are switched from one flight to another.
Alex McWhirter
