Qantas is planning to recommence flights to New York, with service from Sydney, Australia via Auckland from 14 June 2023.
Qantas Boeing 787-9 landing at London Heathrow – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
Qantas will relaunch its QF3/QF4 flights, operating to New York three days a week initially, after a three-year COVID-induced hiatus.
Flights on this route will be operated by the airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliners – with three new aircraft scheduled for delivery next year.
The Sydney-Auckland-New York flights are on sale from today.
Qantas currently operates six daily services to Auckland from Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne which will increase to 11 daily services when the new flight to New York launches.
For those looking to redeem their Qantas Points, the airline will fly two Points Planes in the first week, with all seats across every cabin available as a Classic Reward flight on QF3 and QF4 on 16 June. Points Plane connections will also be available for Frequent Flyers based in Brisbane and Melbourne to use Classic Rewards for their trans-Tasman flights.
Supporting this is a lounge upgrade programme, with a multi-million dollar investment to build new lounges in Adelaide, Auckland, Port Hedland and Rockhampton.
Qantas will completely redesign and expand its existing lounge precinct at Auckland International Airport – plans for which were stalled by the pandemic – to provide a modern pre-flight oasis for customers travelling to-and-from Australia as well as on the new Auckland-New York service.
The existing two lounge spaces will be combined and redeveloped into a single Qantas International Lounge and include a footprint expansion into an adjacent space to increase total capacity by around 40% from 244 seats to 340 seats.
In Quotes
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said flying via Auckland would provide better connectivity from more destinations in Australia, before an uninterrupted 16-hour flight to New York.
“We’re back flying to most of our pre-COVID destinations, which is a fantastic achievement by our teams and so important for Australians reconnecting with the rest of the world.
“We can’t wait to return to New York and it’s made possible by the delivery of new aircraft, which have been caught up in delays that have impacted lots of airlines.
“Customer feedback on our direct London and Rome services show how well suited our Dreamliner cabins are to longer international flights like these, which is helped by the fact we designed them with more room and fewer seats than most of our competitors.
“We think this route will be very popular with Australians given the opportunity to connect via Auckland and it also gives New Zealanders more choice.”
Who needs a Sunrise?
Whilst work goes on to enable Project Sunrise – Qantas’s plans to serve ultra-long haul cities with non-stop flights – the network must continue to evolve to meet its customer needs. Adding New York back to its long-haul network will be a point of pride, as well as reforging an important connection in its ultra-long-haul network.
For trans-Tasman travellers, more flight choices a week will also be welcome to, as a byproduct of this connection coming back.
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1. When will the flights be available for purchase?
2. What days of the week will the flights be operating?
3. How many aircraft does Qantas have scheduled for delivery next year?