Qantas Airways (Qantas) customers will be able to fly directly from Brisbane to Tokyo’s Narita starting next August.
The news comes just days after the Flying Kangaroo announced it expects to report a profit of A$300 million during the first six months of FY2015.
The airline’s expansion of services to Japan is unsurprising, given its significant investments in the country. Earlier this month, Qantas said it wants to inject US$97 million into Jetstar Japan, a low-cost carrier it has a stake in (see here).
“Combined with Jetstar flights from Cairns and the Gold Coast into Japan, the services the Qantas Group offers put us in a very strong position when it comes to both leisure and premium travel to the world’s third largest economy,” said Alan Joyce, Qantas Group chief executive.
Flights between Brisbane and Narita will operate four times a week and complement the carrier’s new daily direct Sydney–Haneda service. Qantas will also fly to Narita on three alternate days from another Australian port, due to be finalised shortly.
The moves will boost Qantas’ total capacity between Australia and Japan by more than 4,000 seats a week.
Travellers will be pleased to hear that the Brisbane–Narita flights will be served by the Airbus A330 fitted with the new seat design first announced last year (see here).
For more information, visit qantas.com.au
Clement Huang
