Qantas postpones start of A380 flights to Johannesburg
Qantas Airways has delayed the launch of the Airbus A380 aircraft for its scheduled flights to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Australia’s national carrier Qantas seems to have delayed the deployment of the Airbus A380 on the Johannesburg route.
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AIRBUS A380 FLIGHTS
Last year Qantas announced that it would introduce the double-decker Airbus A380 aircraft on its flights between Johnnesburg and Sydney.
The launch date was set for July but this appears to have been postponed to September 2024. It will be the first time that the airline has used the superjumbo to Africa.
Data from aviation analytics source Cirium shows that the airline will use the A380 plane on flights to Johannesburg from September.
JOHANNESBURG FLIGHTS
According to Simple Flying, data shows that Qantas will continue to fly the route with a Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
This aircraft has been in use since Qantas returned to Johannesburg in January 2022, after pandemic restrictions were eased.
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POPULAR QANTAS ROUTE
Simple Flying states that Qantas carried about 144 000 roundtrip passengers between Sydney and Johannesburg in the 12 months to November 2023.
This translates to capacity levels of approximately 90% of seats on these flights.
JOHANNESBURG ROUTE
Qantas currently operates 6 flights a week between Johannesburg and Sydney, using its Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Once the Airbus A380 is deployed on the Johannesburg route, Qantas will initially operate five weekly services.
This is down from the present six flights a week. However, the airline will resume six weekly flights from late October.
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SOUTH AFRICAN EX-PATS
This service is popular with South African communities that now live in Australia since it is the most direct and timesaving way to travel between Australia’s east coast and South Africa.
South Africa’s national carrier, South African Airways is set to relaunch scheduled flights to Perth in Western Australia in April.
This service will benefit South African communities in Western Australia and South Africa since these direct flights are extremely convenient.
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