Qantas to move to new Perth Airport terminal, expand Perth hub

[OATEK]

I'm saying that many of these flights (capacity is a difference question) to these cities would still exist with or without connecting passengers.
That's the difference between USA to Aus vs Aus to Europe. There are dozens of cities in between in Asia and the Middle East whereas there's nothing the Pacific Ocean (unless Atlantis was here).

Airlines make a lot more money in winter than they do in summer. In the US for example American, Southwest, Spirit, JetBlue all made steep losses in the first quarter of 2024 (winter in the north). AF-KLM and Lufthansa group have had disappointing results (again winter in the north). I know AA has shuffled their network a lot to account for this and still plan to do a lot more.
Most airlines will just take on the weaker results but AA, DL, and UA in particular have decided to dump a lot of capacity here

Again I can go on and on but winter is generally a weak spot.

To the average pax there is no difference between a transit in PER vs a transit in SIN/DXB/HKG/etc. The only difference is for the airline is that they get to charge an arm and a leg for those living in Perth because people in Perth are willing to pay extra for a nonstop., and PER is and will be a great hub because it makes money plain and simple.


I don't really want to elaborate more because this has gone off-topic, and the reason I did that was because of a few others made a few dubious claims.

Given that the QF787s can do one stop PER to most EU destinations they are likely to fly to (CDG, LHR, FCO, FRA) then the A350s would likely only be overkill on these routes. Can't see them putting these on just to provide F, nor the refitting of the 787s with F. So all the A350/Sunrise discussion around PER is wasted on this thread IMO when the Sunrise initiative already has its own thread.

As regards the non-stop discussion generally, which is very applicable to PER, then I see limited scope for QF. I can see seasonal availability as we have now to some ports being a goer, but year round is a stretch. Unless pax from SYD/MEL/BNE connect via PER, meaning they would be one-stop flights for them (and on inferior domestic aircraft in terms of J & PE), then the market out of WA will be constrained.

I was very grateful for the non-stop DRW-LHR flights as we came out of covid, removing a lot of risk around intermediate airports. But generally, like many on here, I will not be looking at non-stop from the east coast to EU/UK at any time in the future.

 

[serfty]

Thread topic: Qantas to move to new Perth Airport terminal, expand Perth hub
Most of the posts in the last few days are not about Perth.
Time those were deleted or move to another OMNI thread.

The moderation team are monitoring. Currently there is a relationship between Sunrise and the use of PER (or not).

 

[dajop]

On the seasonality aspect, Australia is not the northern hemisphere, we do not have the drastic winters that say US, Canada, China and most of Europe have. My gut feel, based on years of MEL-SIN 7-8 times/year is that mid Feb to -mid Mar, May and mid-Oct to mid-Nov seem to be the quiet periods, not following any specific season. Indeed not that different to domestic demand (where the exception - the ports most drastically impacted by winter/summer or wet/dry variation seem to be HBA and DRW. And CBR when Parliament is not sitting ).

And in fact in reference to the PER-LHR route, it seems to bear this hunch out. But the difference is not huge - <15% difference between peak months and low months (in pax/day, to account for different length months). (Except Jan 2023, but it looks like there's a data entry error there).

I guess this is just one service, but lack of seasonality may explain why it is successful, and why QF may introduce more niche routes like this from PER - they've finally woken up to the idea that there is a market of 2.5m on the west coast (and can also act as a gateway for ADL).

 

[Cognac]

Given that the QF787s can do one stop PER to most EU destinations they are likely to fly to (CDG, LHR, FCO, FRA) then the A350s would likely only be overkill on these routes. Can't see them putting these on just to provide F, nor the refitting of the 787s with F. So all the A350/Sunrise discussion around PER is wasted on this thread IMO when the Sunrise initiative already has its own thread.

I think Qantas have stated in the past that they might put regular A350s on these routes (although I can't recall when/where I read that), not the Sunrise A350s. You are right though, it wouldn't make sense to put the specialised custom-engineering-required aircraft onto routes that can be service by a "regular" model.

Unfortunately I don't see Qantas bringing F cabins to Perth any time soon. But it likely doesn't matter if they keep maxing out the J cabins on the direct-to-Europe (and presumably direct-to-Japan, and direct-to-NZ) routes over the long-term. Also, for me personally I'm unlikely to be springing for an F cabin on Qantas in the near future either.

The capacity increase with the move to the T1/T2 precinct and the additional runway is truly a great move for Perth customers and people visiting Perth. I'm very hopeful we'll see a reduction in delays due to congestion. Of course, there's a lot to work out, but I think it's a huge net positive.

 

[A220HubAndSpoke]

The moderation team are monitoring. Currently there is a relationship between Sunrise and the use of PER (or not).

Please accept my apology mods and other users.

Will try not to do it again in the future.

 

[cosi]

Following on from the Qantas announcement final environmental approval for the construction of the 3rd runway has just been announced. I can't currently find any link that is not behind a paywall or has web security concerns unfortunately. The initial approval was given in 2020 and the final go - ahead with many conditions was announced yesterday. The new runway will be parallel to the existing main runway but about 2.4 km to the east - the other side of the Terminal 1. This means both runways can operate concurrently. Currently with the mass FIFO movements at certain times of the day the runways are maxed out.

Reported in todays West Australian

Perth Airport’s $1 billion second runway ready for takeoff after Canberra issues final approvals​

 

[jrfsp]

QF reiterated its intention to make PER its second largest Intl hub after SYD, focusing on west bound flying:

“Whether it’s Africa, whether it’s Europe or Asia, we see great potential – both for Jetstar and Qantas – [for Perth] as a gateway into Australia, offering tremendous connectivity for our domestic network, but also giving us a geographic advantage.”

A $5 billion agreement between Qantas and Perth Airport will result in a new terminal and runway, at what Wallace said would become the airline’s “western hub”.
“We’ve got any number of different city pairs that the new aircraft can serve out of Perth, but also out of other ports that we can connect,” he said.

Perth to become Qantas’ second-largest international destination

The head of Qantas international says new-generation, extra-long-range aircraft will be a game-changer for the airline and make Perth the world’s gateway to Australia.

www.watoday.com.au

 

[Daver6]

QF reinterring its intention to make PER its second largest Intl hub after SYD, focusing on west bound flying:

“Whether it’s Africa, whether it’s Europe or Asia, we see great potential – both for Jetstar and Qantas – [for Perth] as a gateway into Australia, offering tremendous connectivity for our domestic network, but also giving us a geographic advantage.”

A $5 billion agreement between Qantas and Perth Airport will result in a new terminal and runway, at what Wallace said would become the airline’s “western hub”.
“We’ve got any number of different city pairs that the new aircraft can serve out of Perth, but also out of other ports that we can connect,” he said.

Perth to become Qantas’ second-largest international destination

The head of Qantas international says new-generation, extra-long-range aircraft will be a game-changer for the airline and make Perth the world’s gateway to Australia.

www.watoday.com.au

Expect a flood of incoming moaning from those in Melbourne....

 

[AIRwin]

Rename QANTAS Airways to NSWAys?

 

[SeatBackForward]

QF reinterring its intention to make PER its second largest Intl hub after SYD, focusing on west bound flying:

What, ANOTHER western SYD airport??

 

[p--and--t]

reinterring

I thought they were doing the opposite? Certainly.not dead and buried according to the article.

 

[jukebox333]

QF reiterated its intention to make PER its second largest Intl hub after SYD, focusing on west bound flying:

“Whether it’s Africa, whether it’s Europe or Asia, we see great potential – both for Jetstar and Qantas – [for Perth] as a gateway into Australia, offering tremendous connectivity for our domestic network, but also giving us a geographic advantage.”

A $5 billion agreement between Qantas and Perth Airport will result in a new terminal and runway, at what Wallace said would become the airline’s “western hub”.
“We’ve got any number of different city pairs that the new aircraft can serve out of Perth, but also out of other ports that we can connect,” he said.

Perth to become Qantas’ second-largest international destination

The head of Qantas international says new-generation, extra-long-range aircraft will be a game-changer for the airline and make Perth the world’s gateway to Australia.

www.watoday.com.au

Ahh, yes, PER. That iconic West Coast hub that for so many years offered us locals direct QF metal to...

*checks notes*

... SIN (on a 737).

And that was it. Some of us will never forget that disgrace.

So in 2024 we have SIN, LHR, CDG, a seasonal only FCO and the promise of some Auckland and South African flights next year for the expat locals... unless you want to fly Jetstar, of course.

It feels like there's a long way to go.

 

[JessicaTam]

Expect a flood of incoming moaning from those in Melbourne....

I actually think the ADL folks are most justified to have a moan.

 

[Doctore1003]

Impatient for new routes to Asia. Insane that QF’s only Asia destination ex Perth is Singapore.

 

[GoldenTouchdown]

Expect a flood of incoming moaning from those in Melbourne....

I think many there have well and truly left QF in the dust and moved onto other options by now

 

[SeatBackForward]

Insane that QF’s only Asia destination ex Perth is Singapore

But remember Jetstar is a part of the QF family when it's convenient to them.

 

[SYD]

I actually think the ADL folks are most justified to have a moan.

Alas, ADL is geographically challenged to be a “hub” to anywhere international. Let’s not forget about HBA also…

Ah, maybe HBA to Asia via ADL on A220s….

 

[Daver6]

Ahh, yes, PER. That iconic West Coast hub that for so many years offered us locals direct QF metal to...

*checks notes*

... SIN (on a 737).

And that was it. Some of us will never forget that disgrace.

So in 2024 we have SIN, LHR, CDG, a seasonal only FCO and the promise of some Auckland and South African flights next year for the expat locals... unless you want to fly Jetstar, of course.

It feels like there's a long way to go.

I'm not usually one to defend QF, but I don't think that claim is accurate. I think there was a short period of time where the 737 was the only offering to SIN.

 

[jase05]

I actually think the ADL folks are most justified to have a moan.

Nah, we know our place and have several airlines offering a far better product than QF so really no need to fly them Internationally now.
A decent option across the ditch would be nice but hopefully soon we are back to 4 good options into Asia and 2 to the ME which can get us pretty much anywhere

 

[oz_mark]

I'm not usually one to defend QF, but I don't think that claim is accurate. I think there was a short period of time where the 737 was the only offering to SIN.

I don't recall that it was for 'years', but it was like that for a while at least.