Qantas are changing the equipment they use between the cities of Sydney, Australia and Dallas Fort Worth, USA.
Currently, they operate the route with Boeing 747-400ER aircraft over the 8578 mile/ 13,804 kilometre run on a daily basis, with stops in Brisbane both ways.
The equipment swap will be to an Airbus A380, which will offer the full four class service aboard its planes (First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy Class), which will also introduce First class service between the two cites.
Qantas Airbus A380 at London Heathrow Airport – Image, GhettoIFE
Qantas will be using a 484 seat A380 on this route configured with
- 14 First Seats
- 64 Business Seats
- 35 Premium Economy Seats
- 371 Economy Seats
The modified route will operate QF7/8 between Sydney-Dallas from 29 September 2014, operating 6 days a week (not operating Tuesday), with the Dallas-Sydney leg being operated non-stop.
For oneworld passengers, Dallas offers a convenient gateway for passengers on QF7 for connections across the United States, whilst QF8 will allow passengers to connect to the Qantas domestic and international network.
In addition, Qantas will just beat another Airbus A380 operator into Dallas Fort Worth – that being Emirates.
As a consequence, QF9/10 operating between London Heathrow-Dubai-Melbourne route will be re-timed too as Qantas seeks to make its international fleet work harder. In addition, Asia services may be adjusted to allow the equipment swap to be facilitated (and to release the required A380).
For those of you seeking seats or redemptions, there is a minor wrinkle as Qantas hasn’t updated its site or schedule yet for the Dallas A380 service. Tickets are due to go on sale for the revised route from 14th May 2014.
It only stops in BNE on the way back to SYD, SYD-DFW is nonstop.
Awesome Info, I already had this flight booked in Business on Oct 7th.
Qantas QF 8 Dallas/ Fort Worth (DFW) – Brisbane (BNE)
As a travel agent working in Brisbane, this is bittersweet news. Qf8 which was daily Brisbane to Sydney was always the cheapest, emptiest, domestic sector to book (albeit often late) because of how many people used to disembark in Bne either to connect on to Mel, Cns, etc or because they lived there. It was also great for anyone making a connection to an international flight in Syd, as it pulls up to the international terminal in Sydney. Anyone who’s had to transfer between the domestic and international there know what a glorious ass-pain it can be.
Oh well, major plus is there might be a chance for a free-for-all F grab on May 14!