New Qantas route - PER to JNB QF65/QF66

[JWILLS]

Presumably a transit in SIN means you are talking about flying SQ? There haven't been major luggage issues reported at SIN to my knowledge. But this is well off-topic for a Qantas related thread.

Thanks yes- from what I can see the flight to going to jnb is only a few hours extra - i check out on the SQ thread thanks

 

[Melburnian1]

Big ex-pat SA community in WA that would prefer to fly QF direct than go via ME3 - that said, some of them used to fly QF via SYD to avoid SAA. I imagine this will be very popular with post-covid VFR demand (and would argue the WA govt investment is unnecessary).

Wouldn't SQ have attracted some 'traffic' via its SIN hub? It is extremely popular for travel between India and Oz.

 

[Quickstatus]

quite surprising there are no flights at all from South Africa to anywhere in South America

Not surprising at all
A routing like this will go over South pole and will likely not be available to any 2 engine aircraft as that route will at times be in excess of 7 hours from any available landing field. Generally winds are more favourable if flying around the edges of Antartica rather than through it, so depending on winds the shortest distance may not be through the south pole but closer to the edge.

Still do you want to be sitting on an airplane with the closest landing field over 7hrs away?

 

[Mattg]

Not surprising at all
A routing like this will go over South pole and will likely not be available to any 2 engine aircraft as that route will at times be in excess of 7 hours from any available landing field. Generally winds are more favourable if flying around the edges of Antartica rather than through it, so depending on winds the shortest distance may not be through the south pole but closer to the edge.

Still do you want to be sitting on an airplane with the closest landing field over 7hrs away?

That's not really accurate. Pre-COVID, JNB-GRU was flown by both South African Airways using A330-200s and LATAM Airlines with a Boeing 767-300ER. The routing went nowhere near the South Pole and was well within EDTO limits for the A330 & 767. Also, the flight time from GRU to JNB was around 8 hours, so at no point was anyone on these flights over 7 hours away from the closest landing field.

This is the great circle (shortest) route:

 

[Quickstatus]

That's not really accurate

You are correct
I had PER-EZE on the map

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

TAAG Angola also still flies between Luanda and São Paulo on a 777.

PER-EZE is almost twice as far as it is from Brazil to South Africa and would be a challenge, though I'd say that'd have as much to do with economics as capability. Even NZ gave up on EZE from AKL and feeding traffic in from Oz.

 

[Mattg]

TAAG Angola also still flies between Luanda and São Paulo on a 777.

PER-EZE is almost twice as far as it is from Brazil to South Africa and would be a challenge, though I'd say that'd have as much to do with economics as capability. Even NZ gave up on EZE from AKL and feeding traffic in from Oz.

Norwegian Air Argentina (yes, this was a thing) had a crazy idea to fly EZE-PER-SIN a few years ago using Boeing 787s. It would have been technically possible, but nothing ever came of it.

World-first South American flight to boost WA tourism

The world-first air route “would be a real game changer for both Argentina and Australia”.

thewest.com.au

 

[Mattg]

Looks like Qantas has finally just released some Classic Reward seats on this route.

Not that you can log in to book them right now... (See Qantas website down?)

 

[N860CR]

I managed to book J JNB-PER about 6 weeks ago so they’ve been scattered about (travel in Nov)

 

[vlee_87]

Hey everyone,

I booked a reward ticket for this flight next year but when I try to search this direct flight now, it seems to have disappeared in the search engine? Does anyone know any updates in regards to this flight if it will be still running?

 

[Mattg]

Hey everyone,

I booked a reward ticket for this flight next year but when I try to search this direct flight now, it seems to have disappeared in the search engine? Does anyone know any updates in regards to this flight if it will be still running?

What date is your booking for?

 

[vlee_87]

I booked for June 1st. The flights are supposed to start November 1st and when I check for November 1st, the flight seems to have also disappeared.

 

[N860CR]

I’m still booked on it in a few weeks. No changes as yet.

 

[jpp42]

I’m still booked on it in a few weeks. No changes as yet.

Hmm, hopefully someone with EF access can confirm if they've been zero'd out.

With the shortage of 787's and problems with A380 thus putting more pressure on the 787 fleet, it would not surprise me if this flight goes the same way as SYD-SFO...

Unfortunately , Qantas seems to wait until the last minute before confirming cancellations for existing passengers, typically weeks to months after they stop selling tickets.

Edit: Notably, Qantas makes no reference to the JNB flights in the following newsletter sent out today:

Recently we announced our return to New York, with a new route from Australia via Auckland taking off next June onboard our 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The launch of our new flights to Seoul from Sydney this December is also fast approaching.

Our Santiago services will be returning at the end of October and we’ve added more South Pacific destinations to our network in recent months with Tonga and Samoa flights. And due to popular demand, we're bringing back our seasonal flights from Australia to Rome in June 2023.

 

[BNEFlyer]

That's not really accurate. Pre-COVID, JNB-GRU was flown by both South African Airways using A330-200s and LATAM Airlines with a Boeing 767-300ER. The routing went nowhere near the South Pole and was well within EDTO limits for the A330 & 767. Also, the flight time from GRU to JNB was around 8 hours, so at no point was anyone on these flights over 7 hours away from the closest landing field.

SA also flew JNB-EZE and MH flew KUL-JNB-CPT-EZE.

 

[jrfsp]

This is an A330 flight so i wouldn't have thought it's a fleet issue?

There are 8 long haul config A330-200s. Is that enough to operate JNB + DEL, BLR, LAX, SE Asia flights?

Hopefully haven't overcommitted in fleet scheduling. I wonder if A380 / 787 delays have prevented cascading of A330s for this route.

 

[ZRFF]

In July Qantas announced the start of flights from Perth - Johannesburg 3 times a week on QF65/QF66 in November 2022. These flights were available for booking last week but have now disappeared completely. Can’t seen them even for future months.
Does anyone know why? I can’t see any info from Qantas and when I called up to enquire the agent didn’t know why.
Thanks.

 

[exLXCXFF]

Maybe lack of aircraft to operate given the start Japan, South Korea and HKG again?

 

[N860CR]

Does seem to have disappeared from the GDS. And the SYD flight is locked out which would suggest they’re stopping sales to potentially re-accommodate.

 

[ZRFF]

Maybe lack of aircraft to operate given the start Japan, South Korea and HKG again?

Hopefully it’s only a short-term change! Was looking forward to having that extra option for getting to South Africa