What routes should QF fly?

[Limewood]

They can't just be replacing 767s to HNL.

When is this happening?.

 

[dajop]

So it is unlikely, (unless in a permanent price war) that citizens from those countries would opt for SQ over the non-stop options.

Actually in some instances SQ would be the carrier of choice, particularly for the wealthy. Moreso for Indonesia due to longstanding concerns around safety of local carriers and probably a range of other reasons for not travelling on gulf based carriers. There are factors at play that go beyond just miles and status, but instead choices based on (perceptions of) the quality of the product offered by SQ. (similar would apply for CX when it comes to the Philippines I suspect).

 

[browski]

Moreso for Indonesia due to longstanding concerns around safety of local carriers and probably a range of other reasons for not travelling on gulf based carriers.

Hi Dajop, just out of curiosity, what are the "other reasons for not traveling on gulf based carriers".

Also would anybody agree that QF should fly to Manila from SYD via MEL instead of BNE? (and it is only 1 day per week from BNE)

 

[RSD]

Probably not hugely popular with the wider audience but Perth - Cairo would be damn handy for me several times in the coming months!

Edit to add - frankly if Qantas wants to retain loyalty amongst their Perth members then they need to get some more international flights happening out of Perth - the lack of flights now is becoming a disgrace for a so-called national airline.

 

[dajop]

Hi Dajop, just out of curiosity, what are the "other reasons for not traveling on gulf based carriers".

If the end destination isn't the transit point you still have to do one stop anyway on a gulf based carrier is one reason. Also I have a strong suspicion that certain parts of society (the more elite) would favour SQ over some other carriers (perhaps EK is in similar standing as SQ though), due to its brand premium. Put it this way - look at who's boarding an SQ flight, and who's boarding some of the ME carriers (again perhaps not EK) and it's a different group of people. Just an observation not a fact that I can point to conclusive data.

 

[tipsy.skipsy]

1 flight per day..........from any port in Australia to DXB. It should not be very hard to fill.

.......also MEL-BOM ........Australia's best city to India's best city.........you know it makes sense.

MEL-BOM direct would be awesome... no hopping in and out of singapura

 

[Daniel9]

Melbourne - Colombo

SO many Sri Lankans here in Melbourne.

 

[justinbrett]

To be fair they only started a few weeks ago but it does show they are not a one way street, removing routes never to return. Hopefully the same goes for PER-NRT. Another that had been mentioned as an alternate hub was for a return for the SYD-PEK route which they dropped a couple years back. PVG is where the money is of course.

You would think it makes sense to link up with partner hubs like AMM but you do have to wonder what the market is like into the middle east when emirates and others are so strong. Codeshares are probably the best option.

Honestly, isn't a big part of the problem the lack of 789's? Sure the 788's will open up the JQ network but won't the stretched 900s do the same for QF? They can't just be replacing 767s to HNL.

Actually, Qantas did not remove the DRW/MEL route - they 'gifted' it to Jetstar. Prior to Jetstar flying to Darwin, qantas had the following:
SYD - 1 red-eye
BNE - 1 day, 1 red-eye
MEL - 1 red-eye
ADL - 1 day
PER - 1 day

When they launched, the BNE and MEL red-eyes were given to Jetstar (QF maintained the SYD red-eye) and the launched a new red-eye service to ADL.

Now obviously Qantas have relaunched services to MEL and a new service to CBR , so Qantas is definitely back in the game as far as domestic flights go out of Darwin. Another story with Int'l flights - there's none left. There was QF81/82(ADL-DRW-SIN-DRW-ADL) which now goes direct, and for a time the SYD-BOM flight stopped in DRW outbound only. Not really sustainable having international flights out of a town of 150,000 I guess.

I think they should fly DRW - LHR direct using a B777-200LR (or possibly B787-900, but that would be pushing it), with connecting flights from MEL/BNE/SYD/ADL.

 

[LiamR]

OOL-SYD & MEL would be fantastic for me. But Qantas has gifted that to Jetstar.

Will be interesting to see what routes Qantas choose once their 787's come online!

 

[Nigelinoz]

OOL-SYD & MEL would be fantastic for me. But Qantas has gifted that to Jetstar.

Will be interesting to see what routes Qantas choose once their 787's come online!

Word on the street (At least what I heard on a QF flight recently) is that QF will return to OOL sooner rather than later,
apparently the smart money is on them returning before VA roll out J class on the 738's.
We shall have to wait and see I guess.
Cheers
N'oz

 

[LiamR]

Word on the street (At least what I heard on a QF flight recently) is that QF will return to OOL sooner rather than later,
apparently the smart money is on them returning before VA roll out J class on the 738's.
We shall have to wait and see I guess.
Cheers
N'oz

That would be nice, I haven't heard any news about that so I'm glad QF are at least thinking about it. I wonder if I will get the Qantas Club back too? I'd assume so.

VA are kind of in the process of rolling out J on their 738's..... So they would have to act soon. I doubt they will be able to match the timetable VA has at OOL. When QF left OOL they had two flights a day. Hardly convient.

 

[justinbrett]

Would be nice to see a QF 737 service operate to NTL at least once per day. I will say though the the JQ flights between NTL and BNE are so cheap.

At least we could get Q400s on the route to replace the 300s. Or bring back the 717s.

 

[dajop]

MEL-BOM direct would be awesome... no hopping in and out of singapura

Ultimately India is a very difficult market, whilst BOM is the financial centre there are plenty of reasons for people to fly to other huge cities in India as well, which is to a lesser extent mirrored at the Australian end, that's why Singapore is an important hub. So someone flying MEL-CCU can do an easy transfer at SIN (MEL-SIN-CCU) instead of lots of back tracking MEL-SYD-BOM-CCU coupled with much more painful transfers at both SYD & BOM. You have PER/SYD/MEL/BNE at one end and DEL/BOM/BLR/HYD/MAA/CCU at the other. That's why SQ have a good share of this business, and the way QF have gone with their direct service and codeshares from SIN to BOM & DEL. Maybe MEL/SYD-BLR connecting to Kingfisher domestic services would be better (and easier to do a transfer than at BOM!)

 

[ajw373]

Good post Dajob. Your point quite clearly illustrates the difficulty an Australian airline has in servicing many O/S routes directly and why either creating their own hub, as they have done to an extent in Singapore, or having a regional partner is so important.

 

[airbound]

I think they should fly DRW - LHR direct using a B777-200LR (or possibly B787-900, but that would be pushing it), with connecting flights from MEL/BNE/SYD/ADL.

Hmmm. Might as well forget about an Asian hub then and get some 777-200LRs to operate DRW-LHR/ATH/FCO/CDG/FRA/MAD/MXP/TXL/ZRH and whereever else in Europe it would be nice to see Qantas metal! Then route everybody through Darwin rather than Asia!

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Ignoring all the commercial realities (as it appears most have in this thread), I would like a direct SYD-Moon route :idea:

 

[browski]

Ignoring all the commercial realities (as it appears most have in this thread), I would like a direct SYD-Moon route :idea:

Are you talking about New Moon (IATA code NMP) or Half Moon (IATA code HAF)?

 

[ajw373]

Are you talking about New Moon (IATA code NMP) or Half Moon (IATA code HAF)?

What would they fly? I hear Virgin Galactic has all space ship orders tied up for a few years yet!

 

[Crowne11]

WGA-MEL please! Give Rex some competition there too.

QF to MEL would be fantastic.

Yes please!

 

[Isochronous]

As per my previous post, they already do fly MEL-DRW, sometimes if your lucky, they even fly the other way

Do they still fly MEL-ADL-DRW-SIN? I remember doing that in 2006 to DRW return and enjoyed the experience with the international crew and AVOD!

A return of CBR-TGN that ZL and QF did with the Brindabella Airliness mob would also be nice.