QF BNE Dreamliner base
THE second wave of new Qantas Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, to be delivered from mid-2018, will be based in Brisbane, opening up new potential int’l routes.
Qantas yesterday confirmed the Brisbane strategy will create 470 new jobs and help drive overseas tourism into Queensland “for the long term”, ceo Alan Joyce said.
“The 787 offers a step-change for customers in terms of comfort and efficiency and we are pleased Queenslanders will be able to experience them direct from Brisbane,” Joyce said.
He flagged a variety of possible new options for the 787-9, saying it would be capable of operating non-stop from BNE to cities such as Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Vancouver and hubs in Asia. “We’ve said that initially our
Dreamliners will replace the routes that our older 747 fly but there are also new destinations we are looking at given the capability of the aircraft.
“A range of exciting options is on the table that will help drive tourism to the state and we look forward to making that decision in coming months,” Joyce added. Brisbane Airport described QF’s
Dreamliner base as a “major win for the city and state”.
“For Queensland travellers it will mean having access to more non-stop ultra long-haul routes... positioning Brisbane as the new gateway for access to North America,” BNE’s Julie Alroe said.
QF’s first batch of Dreamliner aircraft will be delivered by Boeing in late Oct & based in Melbourne, serving Los Angeles (from 15 Dec) and London, via Perth (from Mar).
MEANWHILE, QF has loaded its preliminary domestic service for its 787-9s operating from 06 Nov to 14 Dec into travel agent GDS.
QF plans to deploy the carbon- composite jet on weekday flights between Melbourne and Perth on services QF775 (westbound) and QF772 (eastbound), as well as on QF769 (ex MEL) on Sun and QF776 (ex PER), also on Sun.
The aircraft will also be deployed on weekday flights between Melbourne and Sydney on QF460 (ex MEL) and QF497 (ex SYD), and QF442 from Melbourne & QF439 from Sydney, both on Sat.