Qantas Dreamliner to fly Brisbane-LA-New York from September

Qantas will begin flying The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner between Brisbane and Los Angeles from September 1, replacing a Boeing 747-400 currently operating the route. The aircraft will continue on as Qantas’  QF11/12 connecting service between Los Angeles and New York (JFK), consolidating passengers from the airline's Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne services. The smaller, three-class 236-seat aircraft will be complemented between September and December by up to three weekly B747 flights to cater for seasonal demand. The airline said that once its eighth Dreamliner had been delivered by the end of 2018, it would replace the three weekly 747 services between Brisbane and Los Angeles with a second year-round Dreamliner service, operating four times a week. The additional flights will translate to annual capacity increase on the route. Qantas has set up Dreamliner hubs in Melbourne and Brisbane and will launch the first non-stop route between Australia and the UK — Melbourne-Perth-London and return — in March. It already flies the aircraft non-stop between Melbourne and Los Angeles The Brisbane base will host four B787s by the end of 2018. The decision is expected to generate 470 direct and indirect jobs and opens up the possibility of new tourism-generating routes to North America. Qantas boss Alan Joyce did not reveal  where the planes would fly when he announced the Brisbane base last year but  noted they made possible non-stop routes to Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco in the US, Vancouver in Canada and 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,’’ he said at the time “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.” The Australian carrier has not ordered more 787s beyond the initial eight but it has another 45 options and price rights. Joyce said during the delivery of the first Dreamliner in October that the airline needed to demonstrate to the market that the Boeing 787 would be profitable before committing to converting options to firm orders. He said it was likely that the next batch of 787s – beyond the initial eight – would not arrive until late 2019.