Qantas to run double daily flights to Hong Kong

I doubt it.. Once they finish up the refurb program that will release an additional one-two aircraft.

Long-term the 787 seems to be the 330 replacement.

Totally agree.  In fact, I see the 789 as the long-term replacement for both the 333 AND some 744s @ QF.

Anyway, why ordering/leasing some more a330s when:

1) Tons of 787 option+purchase right held by QF Group hv not yet been exercised/converted into firm orders.  Relative to current list price /new contract price, QF Group got its 787 deal @ a tremendous discount when the contract(Geoff Dixon ordered upto 115units back then so U can imagine the kinda volume discount in addition to the typical launch discount...) was signed with Boeing over 10yrs ago to help launch the 787 program so why waste such a good deal by signing long lease for more 330s?

2) In terms of usable cabin floor area, the 789 joining QF fleet fm 2017 is practically indentical to the 333 plying QF's Asian routes today.  The only diff:  More belly cargo capacity+signficantly higher payload/range allowing the flexibility to redeploy 789 on much longer QF intercon routes anytime if desire(e.g. arrive fm HND in a.m. and depart for SFO in p.m. on the same day is operationally doable for 789 but not 333).

3) Not all 330s in the fleet are actually delivering capacity to the QF network system today due to the ongoing refurb program.  Once completed fleet-wide, more 330 capacity will be available anyway without resorting to the complexity of short-term leasing.

Um... this article is about Qantas adding daytime flights to Asia??

I think featheast means morning departure from Hong Kong to Australia, and evening departures from Australia to HK.  It's a good question - QF88 was my preference before they ditched it.

I'd say it has to do with slot availability out of HK, far as I'm aware it's been a bit of an achievement for Qantas to get 2 flights a day at all.

It is an achievement(Though not impossible to get slots in HKG especially for a carrier like QF which has some grand-fathered priority.....QF used to utilize 6 daily slot pairs in HKG circa late 90s /early 2000s) and a much needed one for QF especially to compete against CX's 4x daily....

I agree with you something different eg Ningbo, Guangzhou etc

I presume you mean into other Chinese cities

I guess they dont see the value as HK still a hub to europe and beyond and obvious high demand

HKG is a hub to Europe & beyond.....for CX's system....not really for QF.

In the SYD-HKG mkt, QF moving fm 11x wkly to 14x wkly is mainly an attempt to close the gap(Actually, more like a gulf...) against CX's 28x wkly.

I recall QF did tried such time slot combo on HKG-SYD route(Roughly 0900-1000 dep fm HKG) yrs ago but it didn't work commercially and was abandoned.

Such timing does not work for QF(Not CX though but for diff reasons which I can't explain here without risking being kicked out by the regulator of this website...) most likely because a day time dep from E.Asia(e.g. HKG) would mean an evening/late evening arrival in AU(e.g. SYD)....also mean practically no domestic connection opportunities @ SYD.  With no connecting feed also @ HKG(Too early a.m and just too much bad blood CX vs QF), such QF flight can realistically only fight for pure OD traffic....instantly U hv much less demand for seats on such schedule.  This problem cascade to why QF can't send a plane overnight fm AU arriving E.Asia in the morning even though domestic feed @ SYD won't be a problem.

Yes, true.  Coming in on QF88 always meant an overnight in SYD if were connecting to BNE.  No call for MEL connection because at that time QF30 departed HKG mid morning (after arrliving from LHR) for a PM arrival into MEL.  Therefore QF88 would only carry SYD passengers, plus the odd weirdo like me who is OK to overnight for the BNE connection.  Was only a A330 though ...

'Was only a A330 though.'

Luckily though, it wasn't a 744 and only a 333.  Otherwise, QF's experiment with such schedule(i.e. QF88) to rely only on OD traffic would hv lasted much shorter.

Having said that, if a properly configured(i.e. int'l with Skybed1) 332 or even the grandpa 763ER was available, QF88 might hv lasted a bit longer.....

Unless QF select 788(Not difficult since its contract basically  allows QF Group to select any 787 variant) for its future fleet to enable it to carry very small traffic volume efficiently, we won't see timing like QF88 again anytime soon.

I'm guessing it has something to do with plane avalability. Or slots in Honk kong.

Bingo.  More specifically, daily rotation/roster schedule of each airframe across the QF network.  Unless an airframe is near retirement, very few airlines can afford to dedicate a single bird to serve just 1 route these days due to the drive to maximize utilization /RoI.

Scarcity of slots at HKG.

QF appears to have rights to some slots at HKG that are currently used by other airlines from when they operated a Europe connection hub there.

Slot availablity is quite poor. No info for the next IATA season (Summer 16) but avg week for the current season can be seen at https://www.hkgslot.gov.hk/Slot_Availability.html#

The Perth slots went to Brisbane from recollection to allow Brisbane to be bumped from 4x to daily.  Qantas always said to make HK economic they needed daily frequencies...which give rise to the question if they now have 4 x daily slots could they open up Perth- HK again instead of extra Sydney capacity

Wow, QF ditched PER-HKG quite a long time ago...and when it did that, QF wasn't even as SYD hub-centric back then as it is today.

While we're clearly @ risk of being kicked out by this website's regulator for going off-topic re ancient op history of QF in HKG, why not stray further... [deleted by admin - further off-topic]