Qantas has announced that for the first time, Qantas A380s will operate to South Africa from July 2024, effectively doubling capacity.
Other destinations to receive more capacity include New York, Los Angeles and Bali.
The Qantas Group says it is currently at around 80% of its pre-COVID international capacity levels, building up to this in the past year. Capacity is expected to reach 100% by March 2024, and it will go beyond that level from July 2024 onwards.
Qantas is now able to return more of its Airbus A380s to service as they complete post-storage maintenance, which is enabling seats to steadily increase to meet strong travel demand.
The carrier is adding more than 250 000 seats to and from Australia on routes that include Sydney-Bali, Sydney-Auckland-New York, Melbourne-Los Angeles and Sydney-Los Angeles.
Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said the additional flying would help support the sustained demand for international travel and provide a boost to the tourism industry.
“Hundreds of thousands of extra seats on our network is great news for our customers planning their next overseas trip,” said Wallace.
“We know our customers are looking for great value and this additional capacity will put more downward pressure on fares.
“The additional capacity will largely be made possible through our final two A380s returning to the Qantas fleet following heavy maintenance and cabin improvements.”
Qantas’ route, Sydney-Shanghai resumes late October, operating for the first time in more than three years. Also the Brisbane-Honiara (Solomon Islands) and Brisbane-Wellington routes will launch late October.
Qantas passengers can use COVID credits when booking Qantas flights. In June, Qantas launched an online Find My Credit tool to help reunite customers with bookings dating back to 2020 that were cancelled due to sudden and repeated border closures. The travel expiry date for these credits has been extended, giving customers an extra 12 months to travel provided they book by December 31.
