Qantas’ seasonal services to Vancouver (YVR) will be operated by the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft for the Northern Hemisphere winter. The carrier also confirmed the seasonal service will be extended by one month based on demand and popularity of the flights for the ski season. The Dreamliner flights will operate thrice weekly 12 December 2020 to 27 February 2021. The seasonal service for the North Hemisphere summer will still be operated by Boeing 747-400ER aircraft thrice weekly from 25 June 2020 to 01 August. Qantas has been operating non-stop seasonal services to Vancouver since Decembe ..read more

British regional airline FlyBe (IATA code BE) has collapsed ceasing all operations. FlyBe is Europe’s largest regional airline. All flights have been cancelled and the carrier’s 2,300 staff now face an uncertain future. Exeter based FlyBe, which connects smaller UK airports has been financially struggling for quite some time and in January this year the risk of collapse was quite high. The airline had planned to re-brand in 2020 as  “Virgin Connect” working in close collaboration with Virgin Atlantic. The last ownership structure of the parent company “Connect Airways” is a consortium of ..read more

According to Sydney Airport, all flights arriving from Victoria to Sydney (SYD) will be arrive at the airport’s international terminal “T1” for disembarkation. Essentially they will be treated as an international arrival with similar processing controls.   Due to the recent increases in COVID-19 cases in the greater Melbourne area, the use of the international terminal will provide the infrastructure for more robust quarantine and border checks. Eligible passengers that have permission to travel to Sydney from Victoria will face enhanced border and quarantine checks to ensure New South W ..read more

Qantas will no longer be offering its complimentary Chauffeur Drive service on flights between Australia and London. This also applies for customers booked on an eligible flight with a Qantas flight number that is operated by Emirates. Existing Chauffeur Drive bookings made on or before 15 April 2020 for travel through to 30 April 2021, will not be impacted. Customers that have not confirmed their Chauffeur Drive service,  can still book their complimentary Chauffeur Drive before 15 April 2020, for upcoming travel through to 30 April 2021. Given  that international travel is severely ..read more

The Coronavirus COVID-19 is negatively impacting demand for air travel and airlines are taking measures to mitigate and contain the negative effects. QANTAS will temporarily ground eight of its twelve strong A380s until mid-September. The airline has already reduced the number flights and capacity by using smaller aircraft from Australia to Hong Kong and Singapore with services to Shanghai (Pudong) remaining suspended. The further cuts would be related to reduced flying of the Airbus A380 and downgrading capacity on selected 747 services by using A330s. Reduction of Airbus A380 flying and rout ..read more

Qantas, which recently resumed scheduled flights to Hong Kong, is set to significantly increase capacity. The airline’s current four times weekly A330 service from Sydney, will be upgraded to daily services using the Airbus A380. This is scheduled to come into effect from 26 March 2023 and run until 18 June 2023. It will also mean that First Class and Premium Economy will be available as the A330 only offers a two cabin Business and Economy service. Qantas last operated seasonal A380 services to Hong Kong prior to the pandemic. As a consequence of the A380 Hong Kong service, Qantas will make s ..read more

Qantas continues with its popular “scenic flights”. After the success of its first scenic flight on 10 October , an eight hour aerial journey taking in Australia’s iconic sights such as the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru, the airline will now offer a “Centenary” edition scenic flight. On 16 November 2020, the airline will celebrate its 100th birthday. To commemorate this milestone, Qantas will offer a 787 scenic flight over Sydney. In keeping with the centenary theme, the flight number will be QF100, the flight duration will be 100 minutes and the aircraft will be VH-ZNJ named “Longreach” featur ..read more

QANTAS will add Orange, New South Wales to its domestic network from 01 May 2020. Flights will be operated 11 times weekly from Sydney with subsidiary regional carrier Eastern Australia Airlines under the QANTASLink brand. All flights will be operated by the Dash-8 Series 300 turboprop aircraft. The introduction of these QANTAS flights on the Sydney – Orange segment will end REX-Regional Express’ monopoly. REX presently operates up to five daily services between Sydney and Orange. These new regional services will be operated in collaboration and code-share with Emirates and American Airlines a ..read more

The Lufthansa Group of airlines, Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Swiss will still maintain USA flights despite the US administration restrictions concerning European Union/Swiss citizens. Flights will continue, albeit at a heavily reduced schedule, from Germany, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland to the USA. LUFTHANSA (LH) Lufthansa will offer flights only from its Frankfurt hub to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and New York-Newark Liberty Airport (EWR). AUSTRIAN AIRLINES (OS) Austrian will offer flights from Vienna to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) SWISS (LX) Swiss will offer flights only from its Zuric ..read more

Effective 09 March 2020, QANTAS will change the way it handles the assistance it gives to passengers in times of disruption. The new policy for its “Customer Disruption Management Standards” will apply when flight disruptions have occurred as a direct result of weather or Air Traffic Control (ATC) incidents.  When a disruption has occurred due to weather or ATC outside of the airline’s control, QANTAS will no longer be providing one night’s accommodation. According to QANTAS this policy change will be aligned with the industry norm. The carrier is recommending now in its updated “conditio ..read more