Fresh off its first long-haul flight, Qantas is announcing that the 787 will add a second US destination. In late 2018, Qantas will begin Melbourne-San Francisco service. This will be additional to the current route between Sydney and San Fran. The route will not be daily, but will save a couple of hours for San Francisco travelers. Currently, those traveling between Melbourne and San Francisco must connect in Los Angeles or Sydney.
Qantas today also announced an all-new route to be operated by the Dreamliner, with the introduction of – Melbourne to San Francisco. The route will be on sale from early 2018 with flights expected to start by late 2018. Capacity between Melbourne and the US will be rebalanced to match demand for the two Californian cities, meaning that the Dreamliner will fly to Los Angeles some days of the week and San Francisco other days.
With the re-balancing and change in schedule, capacity between Los Angeles and Melbourne will see a further reduction. Before the 787 flights were announced, LAX-MEL was serviced twice daily by A380s and 747, with only one day a week seeing A380 service only. Today’s announcement did not say what the reduction will be, but I would guess that the 787 will fly to San Francisco from Melbourne three days a week and LAX the other three.
The Qantas 787 does not offer first class. It does offer business, a new premium economy product, and economy. See a full review of the Qantas 787 from my flight between Melbourne and Perth in November 2017.
Future Qantas 787 Flights
Qantas now has two of their eight Dreamliners and will receive all eight from Boeing by the end of 2018. The next two new 787 deliveries will launch the world’s longest flight, nonstop between Perth and London. That flight will originate in Melbourne. Once all eight are delivered, the 787s will be based in both Brisbane and Melbourne. Each base will be home to four 787s. The Brisbane 787s may be used to launch new routes or replace routes operated by the A330s. Currently Qantas flies A330s to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo from Brisbane. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has hinted at new destinations including Chicago and Seattle. He also had said there could be new and more frequent routes to Vancouver, San Francisco, and Asia.
It will not be until the arrival of the A350 or B777/X that Qantas can offer nonstop service to New York, Rio De Janeiro, or London from the West Coast.
