Qantas bumps up Brissie flights with over 35,000 new seats to NZ & Samoa

The vertical stabilisers and fuselages of two Qantas planes at Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport.  Nearest is a Boeing 787-9, VH-ZNB, taxiing to the southern end of the runway before heading to Santiago as flight QF27.  In the distance is a Boeing 737-838, VH-VXG, flight number QF649, which is taxiing to the main north-south runway before taking off and heading to Perth.  This image was taken from the Botany side of the Cooks River, on a sunny afternoon on 26 February 2023.
Edited by Travel Weekly


    Queenslanders will have more options to visit New Zealand and Samoa with Qantas adding more than 35,000 seats to its international network out of Brisbane each year.

    From late October 2024, the national carrier will operate larger aircraft and extra frequencies to meet growing demand for business and holiday travel:

    • Brisbane-Wellington: larger Boeing 737 aircraft will replace daily Embraer E190
      flights, adding more than 600 seats on the route each week.
    • Brisbane-Apia (Samoa): flights will seasonally increase from three to five per week
      between mid-December 2024 and mid-January 2025, adding more than 300 seats on
      the route each week, operated by the 737.

    Qantas International CEO, Cam Wallace, said the airline was pleased to be adding seats for the growing numbers of customers travelling between Brisbane and both New Zealand and the Pacific.

    “This boost to our Queensland network is about giving our customers more choice on routes where we are seeing strong demand,” said Mr Wallace.

    “We’ve had a fantastic response from Queenslanders wanting to travel across the Tasman since our Wellington route first launched late last year.

    “The new service also makes it easier for Kiwis to experience the world-famous beaches in Queensland and access the Great Barrier Reef, or connect through Brisbane to our extensive domestic network in the Sunshine State and beyond.”

    Tickets are now available for sale at qantas.com and through travel agents. Qantas operates nonstop flights to 11 international destinations from Brisbane, 3 of these were routes that have launched in the past two years.

    (Featured image: Qantas plans in Sydney – shot from the Botany side of the Cooks River. (SCM Jeans)

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