Qantas has confirmed its plans to fly directly from Brisbane to Chicago and San Francisco from April next year.
The new flights are based on the approval of its joint business with American Airlines from the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). As reported earlier this month, the joint business had received tentative approval.
The new routes
Qantas are planning to operate the new routes with their Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. These flights are expected to launch by the end of April 2020. All up, they will add more than 170,000 seats across the Pacific each year.
Brisbane – Chicago
Qantas plans to operate between Brisbane and Chicago four times per week. The city is one of American Airlines’ major hubs, giving Qantas customers access to 30 additional unique one-stop destinations from Australia. With the added gateway, Qantas customers will be able to connect to more than 200 onward destinations from Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth.
- The 14,326km flight will take approximately 16 hours 20 minutes (slightly more or less depending on winds)
- When it launches, it is expected to be the fourth-longest passenger flight in the world.
- It will be the second longest flight on the Qantas network, closely behind Qantas’ Perth-London service (14,499km).
Brisbane – San Francisco
The new three-times-per-week Brisbane to San Francisco service will complement Qantas’ existing flights from Sydney and Melbourne.
- The 11,367km flight will take approximately 12 hours 40 minutes (slightly more or less depending on winds)
Once the flights are launched, Qantas will operate 14 flights per week between Brisbane and the United States. This includes the daily service between Brisbane and Los Angeles that continues to New York.
It’s always good to see Qantas announce new routes. We’ll let readers know when tickets go on sale and keep an eye out for those reward seats that will hopefully come up.