An Airbus A330 that can carry 251 business and economy passengers. Photo: Qantas
Qantas will fly from Perth to Auckland and Johannesburg this summer amid a raft of fleet and schedule changes to its international schedules.
And the WA Government says the Auckland service, which will serve as a gateway to New York, will open up the US to the state.
The Perth-Johannesburg service takes off on December 7 with the Auckland service taking off on December 8. Both routes will operate three times per week with a A330 aircraft.
Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace says the routes will connect with domestic networks, here in Australia and in South Africa.
“Our new Perth-Auckland route offers a one-stop connection to New York while the new direct flight to Johannesburg provides a connection … to cities like Cape Town through our partnership with Airlink,” he says.
Perth Airport’s Chief Commercial and Aviation Officer Kate Holsgrove welcomes the news.
“Creating additional capacity within terminals 3 and 4 will allow Qantas to add or expand their services to Western Australia and is an important interim measure as we build new terminal facilities at Airport Central so Qantas can relocate in 2031,” she says.
WA GOVT WELCOMES NEWS
Qantas will fly from Perth to Johannesburg from December 7. Image: Qantas
The WA Government says the new Auckland service will generate nearly 40,000 new inbound seats from NZ; that is the state’s third largest international source of visitors; 83,200 visitors spent $170 million in WA last year.
The government says the Auckland route also opens up Perth to the US via New York City; the US is seen as one of WA’s priority global visitor markets.
The Johannesburg service is expected to generate nearly 40,000 new inbound seats annually.
WA Tourism Minister Reece Whitby says the news is a “major win” for WA tourism.
“Expanding non-stop international connections is central to our tourism strategy to attract more visitors, encourage longer stays, and increase spending across the regions,” he says.
The flights are funded by the Federal Government (via Australian Border Force and Department of Agriculture) which is helping Perth Airport boost border and biosecurity staff, equipment and facilities, and allow for more international flights.
OTHER CHANGES
Qantas will introduce a B787 Dreamliner on its daily Brisbane-Los Angeles route from October.
American Airlines and Qantas will also make seasonal ‘tweaks’ over summer.
From December 2025 to January 2026, the airlines will operate daily B787 Dreamliner services between Brisbane and LA: Qantas will operate four flights a week with three flights a week for American.
At the same time, Qantas will increase its B787 flights between Melbourne and Dallas to a daily service and flights between Brisbane and LA will return to a daily service from February 2026.
Jetstar will drop its Sydney-Honolulu service after October 24 and its Dreamliner aircraft redeployed elsewhere.
Qantas is to run five to six services a week on the Sydney-Honolulu route and follows the recent launch of flights from Melbourne to Honolulu.
A Qantas Airbus A380 returns to service with daily flights on the Sydney-Dallas/Fort Worth route from January 2026.
