Qantas boosts Cairns, Townsville, Sunshine Coast, PNG flights

Qantas is ramping up its flights to Queensland with more domestic services to Cairns, the Sunshine Coast, Townsville and Mount Isa, along with new business class options for travellers jetting from Sydney and Melbourne to Far North Queensland.

Joining that, QantasLink will also resume its Cairns-Port Moresby flights, complementing the Qantas Group's existing international flights from Cairns to Bali, Osaka and Tokyo, which are all served by Jetstar.

Here's what you need to know.

Cairns gets Airbus A330s, Business Suites

Passengers travelling between Sydney and Cairns and also Melbourne and Cairns will find Qantas' Airbus A330s appearing on selected flights from March 31 2019, featuring the airline's international-grade business class Business Suites...

... promising every passenger direct aisle access, plenty of space to work and relax, and as time permits on these three-hour flights, a fully-flat bed for a quick nap:

AusBT Review: Qantas domestic Airbus A330 Business Suites

Qantas is also rolling out free WiFi on its domestic Airbus A330 flights and plans to provide this across its entire domestic A330 fleet, as will serve Cairns.

More domestic flights for Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Mount Isa

From the same date, the Roo's flights between Sydney and the Sunshine Coast will increase from daily to double-daily on weekdays, boosting the total number of weekly return flights on the route from eight to 13.

Brisbane travellers will also gain extra flights to Cairns and Mount Isa.

On the Brisbane-Cairns route, Qantas currently provides up to four daily return flights, but from late March, 11 additional weekly return services will be added to the schedule.

Travellers bound for Mount Isa will also have more flights to choose from with services from Brisbane climbing to an almost double-daily frequency at 13 return flights per week.

However, the current mix of Boeing 737s and two-class Boeing 717s on this route will be swapped over to the all-economy QantasLink Boeing 717s as of April 1 2019, removing the option of business class on these flights.

Six additional weekly return flights will also be added between Brisbane and Townsville.

Qantas resumes international flying from Cairns

As of March 31 2019, QantasLink will resume its international flights between Cairns and Port Moresby: a route that was axed in 2016, leaving Air Nuigini as the only option for the 85-minute hop.

These flights will be served by QantasLink's 74-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft, which come in an all-economy, 2-2 layout.

Qantas is currently refreshing these planes with new leather upholstry and seatback tablet holders for iPads and the like, and expects these revamps to be completed on every Q400 by the end of 2019:

Photos: QantasLink upgrades Q400 aircraft seating

Qantas' existing flights between Brisbane and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea will continue as-is, using a Boeing 737 aircraft offering both business class and economy.

Also read: Qantas launches direct Sydney-Bendigo flights

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.