Qantas will fly non-stop from Perth to Johannesburg in South Africa, with a new thrice-weekly service launching in November 2022.

Operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, QF65 will depart Perth at 3pm and arrive in Johannesburg after 11 hours and 15 minutes of flying at 8.15pm, local time. The return service QF66 will depart Johannesburg at 10pm on the same day, arriving in Perth at 1.55pm on the following day after 9 hours and 55 minutes in the air.

These flights will be operated by international-configured Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

Qantas already flies four times per week from Sydney to Johannesburg – a route it restarted in January – using Boeing 787s. This service will increase to daily from 30 October 2022, meaning Qantas will fly ten times per week in total to South Africa from November.

South African Airways previously flew daily between Perth and Johannesburg for decades, but cancelled this route in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. South African Airways, which was already in business rescue (a form of voluntary administration) before the pandemic, has since massively shrunk its fleet. It now only has two wide-body aircraft in active service, which are used exclusively for flights between Johannesburg, Lagos and Accra.

South African Airways is unlikely to return to Perth anytime soon – if ever – creating a good opportunity for Qantas to enter this lucrative route.

“There’s a big South African population that lives in Western Australia and this will be great for people travelling in both directions to see family and friends. It will also help support the economic ties between Australia and South Africa,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said.

Air Mauritius is resuming flights between Perth and Mauritius in November 2022, with onward connections available to/from South Africa. But the only other options for travel between Perth and Johannesburg are currently via Sydney, Singapore or the Middle East.

Qantas was reportedly planning to start seasonal Perth-Johannesburg flights in 2018, but backed out due to a dispute with Perth Airport at the time.

Direct Qantas flights between Perth and Johannesburg are now on sale from around $1,800 return in Economy. These fares are similar to those offered by Emirates, Air Mauritius and Qatar Airways for one-stop flights, but Singapore Airlines offers significantly cheaper airfares via Singapore.

In Business, Qantas airfares from Perth to Johannesburg are now on sale from around $7,800 return in Business. Air Mauritius and Singapore Airlines Business fares start from around $6,000 return, but may come with long layovers.

At the time of writing, Qantas has not yet released any Classic Flight Reward availability on the new route.

New Qantas Perth-Jakarta flights

Qantas also today announced the launch of direct Perth-Jakarta flights for the first time in late November 2022, with 3x weekly Boeing 737-800 services on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Flight QF53 will depart Perth at 7.05pm, arriving in the Indonesian capital at 10.35pm. The return QF54 will operate overnight, leaving Jakarta at 11.55pm and landing in Perth the following morning at 5.10am.

This route fills a gap left by the withdrawal of Garuda Indonesia services. Garuda has not resumed any of the routes it previously operated to Perth or Melbourne before the pandemic.

Both new Qantas routes from Perth Airport are being subsidised by the Western Australian government and Perth Airport.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: New Qantas route – PER to JNB QF65/QF66

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
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