Australian national carrier Qantas Airways will offer a new seasonal Sydney – Vancouver service in the three weeks from January 3 to 22, 2015.
The QF75/76 service will depart Sydney on Saturdays and Wednesdays (with same day connections available from the major Australian capital cities), and from Vancouver on Sundays and Thursdays, operated by a three-class B747-400 aircraft, reconfigured with lie-flat beds in business class and the latest international economy seat. Click here for a seat plan.
Qantas International CEO Simon Hickey said the seasonal Vancouver services was great news for Australian travellers and ski enthusiasts, providing easier access to Canada’s most popular ski resorts and holiday destinations, and would also boost inbound tourism for Australia.
First class on the A380
Qantas has also said it will offer significant supplementary services during the Australian summer travel period from November to end-January on the Melbourne – Los Angeles, Sydney – Santiago (de Chile) and Sydney – Honolulu routes to meet strong demand. Check the Qantas website for more details.
The carrier has identified North America as one of its strongest growth markets and decided to up frequency on a number of regular-scheduled routes:
1) Melbourne – Los Angeles to increase from seven to ten per week from January 21, 2015;
2) Sydney – Santiago to increase from three to four per week from February 20, 2015;
3) Sydney – Honolulu to increase from three to four per week from January 3, 2015.
Los Angeles business class lounge
The upgauging of services might be surprising to some, given Qantas’ monumental US$2.8 billion FY13-14 loss. However, the carrier would be ill-advised to cut capacity on routes that are actually working for them, which the North American market obviously is. Qantas has said last week that it will cut capacity on the Dubai – London route because it was experiencing weaker demand there. At the end of the day it’s all about putting your aircraft to best use, meaning raking in the highest possible yields. NA is quite apparently where Qantas sees itself making money at this time.
For more information, visit qantas.com
Dominic Sebastian Lalk
