Qantas Airways has announced it will operate a total of 47 flights between the US and Australia each week, after starting up new services between Los Angeles and Brisbane/Sydney at end-March and between Honolulu and Sydney from early-April.
"This latest increase in capacity confirms our confidence in the growth potential of this important international route," Qantas executive general manager, John Borghetti said. Beginning in October, Qantas will operate its first A380 flights between Los Angeles and Australia.
With codeshare partners American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air and Mexicana, Qantas customers can connect from major destinations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacifi c.
Qantas also codeshares on LAN services between Sydney and Santiago, Chile, and has just announced it will commence services to South America, with flights from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Sydney. Qantas will operate these services on B747-400 aircraft beginning November 24, 2008.
The lucrative route has long been coveted by other carriers, in particular Singapore Airlines which has been continuously shut out of the market by what many in the industry see as blatant protectionism.