Qantas eyes flights to Athens, Seattle, Chicago, Las Vegas
As more long-range jets join the fleet, here’s where Qantas wants to fly them…
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Executive Traveller exclusive
Qantas has revealed some of the cities on its “short list” for new international routes as more Boeing 787 jets become available, both from the return of the A380 superjumbos and with new deliveries of 787s and Airbus A350-1000s within the next five years.
“We generally have 10 markets under analysis” at any time, says Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace, “and five under deep analysis.”
Seattle is high on that list, Wallace told Executive Traveller during a media briefing at Airbus HQ in Toulouse, France, citing the strength of home carrier and fellow Oneworld member Alaska Airlines.
“We have a good relationship with them and they’re very keen for us to fly there.”
Direct Sydney-Seattle flights would be almost the same distance as Qantas’ current trans-Pacific trek between Sydney and Vancouver.
Seattle’s long-standing appeal spans from being the home of US high-tech titans to a hub for Arctic and Alaskan cruises, as well as the natural outdoor attractions of the Pacific Northwest, while Alaska Airlines could provide a pipeline of inbound tourism.
Chicago and Vegas
Chicago, which Qantas was on the cusp of launching as a direct flight from Brisbane in April 2020 before the pandemic took hold, remains on the radar.
“That’s another strong market where there’s demand in both directions,” Wallace observed, with Chicago also serving as a gateway to the mid-West and a hub for American Airlines.
As the only non-stop flight between Australia and Chicago, this would provide a valuable ‘monopoly route' for Qantas.
Wallace is also looking at Las Vegas, attracted by its combination of business travel for conferences and conventions as well as leisure trips.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reports Australia represented the second-largest number of overseas visitors in 2023 after the UK, with 264,900 visitors – a surging increase of 74.2% over the previous year, although still off the pace against the 358,000 Aussie visitors recorded in 2019.
Greece is the word…
For her part, Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson singled out Greece as a possible seasonal destination from Perth, joining Rome as a drawcard for the European summer and year-round flights to London and Paris.
“Every person I speak to at the moment is going to Greece,” she told media at the launch of Qantas’ direct Perth-Paris flights, and sees more red-tailed Boeing 787s as well as A350-1000s using Perth as a springboard to Europe.
Of course, it all comes down to “when we have the aircraft,” Hudson said, acknowledging the reality of a fleet which is currently short of meeting Qantas’ ambitions.
“There’s a whole bunch of markets like Greece and Germany that we’ve flown to before on a connecting basis that we’ll look at (for direct flights),” Wallace added.
An agile kangaroo
Wallace is also adopting a nimble and “agile” approach to extending the Qantas network: studying destinations and ‘city pairs’, crunching the numbers, and if those numbers stack up, moving fast to take advantage of it – but if demand later softens, being prepared to move on.
“We’ve got to be really thoughtful and quite purposeful about how we deploy that capacity, but also agile,” Wallace says.
“If stuff doesn’t work, we’re not going to just kind of keep going. We’ve got to have to move the capital where we see the best returns.”
Hudson draws on her background as Qantas’ Chief Financial Officer when she describes aircraft as “mobile assets, and they’re pretty expensive assets to leave in a market that’s not performing.”
“We demonstrated it in China, we redeployed that capacity into India (and) into Singapore where the demand was.”
“And I think it’s really important that we do that because we’re very focused on continuing to grow profitability, but sustainably. And that’s really important to be able to afford the new aircraft that are coming.”
David Flynn travelled to Toulouse as a guest of Airbus and Qantas
03 May 2021
Total posts 54
This is all sounds great but I still question if Qantas are going or have enough aircraft in supply to launch these routes. Assuming that these new aircraft they will receive will also be replacing the a330s and a380s.
26 Sep 2023
Total posts 27
While it does indeed seem like everyone is currently there Greece is infamously low yield, so I'm assuming it has to be way, way down the list considering the extremely tight aircraft market at the moment. Seattle, Chicago, and Frankfurt (if Sunrise works) seem like reasonable options.
Aegean Airlines - Miles & Bonus
16 Jul 2019
Total posts 28
I've lived in Greece 12 years. Greece might well have been low yield historically but I think that's changing. Demand for Greece is high but demand from Greece has exponentially grown as the economy strengthens. There are a lot of wealthy people here. I personally think the key is for QF to fly to Athens via Singapore from SYD or MEL. If they can get 5th freedom rights to carry pax from Athens to Singapore then I think there's demand for that too as Athens is very poorly serviced on that route (Scoot only) and the corporate shipping market between Greece and Singapore is significant. SQ flew here for decades until the economic crisis and I believe they're considering a return.
21 Apr 2017
Total posts 49
“Agile” for QF seems simply to mean running a tiny international network with incremental additions focused on seasonal routes which come and go, mostly geared to leisure travellers and highly sensitive to whether or not there’s any competition on the routes. What’s the medium to long term strategy for the international business?
03 Mar 2023
Total posts 32
I would have thought if they were considering Athens it would be just a direct flight from Melbourne, given the huge Greek population. For me the Perth hub isn't appealing, especially as someone from Brisbane. If you've got to hub somewhere I'll take Hong Kong, Singapore or Doha over Perth any day.
04 Dec 2013
Total posts 154
Surely Frankfurt is next on the list? I used to fly QF5/6 regularly and it seemed like it was always packed in business and economy.
18 Mar 2022
Total posts 16
That consideration of Brisbane to Chicago direct is long overdue and is situated well for other local onward connections to both US domestic locations as well as onward to eastern cities in Canada using American Airlines connections.
16 Dec 2016
Total posts 57
Did you read the article? Seasonal and agile. If a market doesn't stack up financially then they can always change it. I like that they are trying new destinations and it allows them to respond to the market needs.
06 Feb 2021
Total posts 63
It would be nice if Qantas started one of these flights from Melbourne with the 787 or A350. Assuming aircraft useage made it possible, in the case of an additional European destination, whether that be Frankfurt or Athens, if the flight from Melbourne coincided timewise in Perth with the flight from Sydney going to London, then passengers from either city could transfer to the flight heading to their preferred destination.
Passengers from Melbourne, unless they are absolute rusted on Qantas only types, are not going to see flying from here to Perth in domestic, particularly a 737, then transferring to international, as a viable option when there are so many Middle Eastern or Asian airlines offering a more comfortable option, (A380, A350, 777, 787,) direct from trainless Tulla.
02 Dec 2021
Total posts 2
For god Sake get some more aircraft
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1547
Read it twice. Could not find word "Melbourne". Thanks, Qantas.
06 Nov 2019
Total posts 11
Scoot fly to ATH via SIN?
This is a great option. The Scooters offer a great connection in Changi (Budget Terminal) plus, they offer consumables for a fee, onboard.
The Nasi Goreng is a treat - you even get a free water, too!
So, everyone happy! - you get to transit SIN (no need to whinge about the PER transit), and you also get to continue to Eleftherios Venizelos, just in time for a Kaffedaki and Bougatsa on arrival.
Kolonaki awaits you!
QF
03 Jul 2015
Total posts 22
Without First Class on the 787s, IMO Qantas are missing a valuable premium market.
17 Nov 2023
Total posts 36
Qantas might want to take a close look at the morning traffic at SEA before committing.
We recently flew in there from SIN and even though we landed an hour early due to favourable winds, it took another 45 minutes to get onto the gate due to tarmac congestion (which we assured is a regular occurrence).
Qantas
19 Apr 2012
Total posts 1425
Early arrivals usually have delays due to gate slots. It even happens in Sydney.
19 Jan 2018
Total posts 30
Brisbane/Honolulu/LasVegas/Miami….An A380 wouldn’t cope with the demand. Get out of your European/Asian comfort zone Qantas….its NOT WORKING.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
19 Jun 2019
Total posts 9
Seattle and Vancouver 7-10 days per week, go daily and increase YVR with winter demand, share the daily flight between the two ports and if sales are strong increase, AS and SEA is a great hub
Etihad - Etihad Guest
21 Jul 2019
Total posts 179
Seasonal is ok. Well ok-ish. But when I hear 'agile' it sounds like a cop-out.
06 Nov 2019
Total posts 11
I'm just so surprised QR and EY have seasonal flights to many destinations ............. but, if Q decide to also have seasonal flights, they're criticised !!
Do you have another adjective that you approve of?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 Oct 2017
Total posts 97
I know so many people going/gone to the Greek islands last year and this year, its amazing. Difficult to fathom why there is no QF flight between Athens and Melbourne, the 3rd largest Greek city in the world, at least in the European summer.
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