Qantas has announced Sydney-San Francisco as the next route for its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The 787 will replace the existing 747 service, and will mark the end of Qantas 747 services to the mainland USA.
The equipment change is set to take place on 4 December 2019, offering Qantas customers travelling between Sydney and San Francisco the Dreamliner’s improved seating and more comfortable overall cabin environment.
The Sydney-San Francisco Dreamliner service will operate daily and complements Qantas’ existing Dreamliner service between Melbourne and San Francisco which operates four times per week.
San Francisco is one of five international destinations currently served by the Qantas Dreamliner. The other cities are Los Angeles, New York, London and Hong Kong.
The move to a smaller aircraft will see a reduction of almost 24 per cent in the number of seats on the route. As a result, expect redemptions to become even more difficult than they are now.
The Qantas 787-9 Dreamliner
The Qantas 787-9 comes equipped with 236 seats. This consists of 42 seats in business, 28 in premium economy and 166 in economy.
Qantas has a fleet of eight 787-9s currently operating the following services
- Brisbane-Hong Kong,
- Brisbane-Los Angeles,
- Los Angeles-New York JFK,
- Melbourne-Hong Kong,
- Melbourne-Los Angeles,
- Melbourne-Perth-London Heathrow,
- Melbourne-San Francisco and
- Sydney-Hong Kong.
The 787-9 fleet will increase to 14 with the arrival of six more 787-9s due between October 2019 and the end of 2020. These aircraft will be used to enable Qantas to retire its 747 fleet by the end of next year.