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Qantas returns to Canada with nonstop summer services to Vancouver

written by australianaviation.com.au | September 16, 2014

The Qantas 747-400 has been synonymous with the promotion of tourism to overseas market, but no longer, it seems. (Qantas)
Qantas 747-400s will operate seasonal services to Vancouver. (Qantas)

Qantas is to operate nonstop flights to Canada for the first time, with six seasonal return services between Sydney and Vancouver planned for January 2015.

The direct flights will be operated by three-class Boeing 747-400 aircraft and will run twice a week between January 3-22, Qantas said on Tuesday. Flight QF75 will leave Sydney on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 1450 for an 0945 arrival at Vancouer, while the return QF76 will depart Vancouver at 2345 on Sundays and Thursdays and land in Sydney at 1000 two days later.

Qantas international chief executive Simon Hickey said these extra services were part of the airline’s plan to adapt its flying schedule to cater for demand at different times of the year and comes on top of previously announced seasonal increases to cities such as Tokyo and Honolulu.

“Since July, we’ve scheduled a total of 108 extra flights across the international network to serve the demand in the market,” Hickey said.

“North America is a key market for Qantas and these direct services reinforce our commitment both to this market and to taking advantage of seasonal peaks, including to destinations that aren’t necessarily on our network all-year round.”

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Qantas previously operated seasonal services from Sydney to Vancouver via San Francisco in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Currently, Air Canada offers the only direct flights between Australia and Canada, with daily flights between Sydney and Vancouver using Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.

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Comments (19)

  • Chuck

    says:

    Another route that QF should be servicing with long-range twins…. oh that’s right they don’t have any.

  • Dave

    says:

    Why so long on the ground in Vancouver? 38 hours seems quite a waste.
    Aren’t they trying to increase fleet utilisation?

  • Patrick Schwarz

    says:

    I agree with Chuck

  • Alex

    says:

    I think QANTAS is trying to save money on crew repositioning and having a crew sitting there for 3 days getting a paid holiday. Same crew will fly the plane back.

  • John .

    says:

    What’s wrong with you Qantas if Air NZ can make its Auckland Vancouver route work and operate all year round why cant Qantas . Air NZ has been operating777s for some years now .

  • Lucas

    says:

    Let’s give Qantas a break, guys!!
    Any new route is a positive move. At least it
    is not flown by Jetstar!!

  • Stuart Lawrence

    says:

    I agree Qantas is finally doing something right and what about seasonal routes to Europe

  • Michael

    says:

    This is great news for people in Seattle since it’s so close to Vancouver. I’d rather travel the short drive or flight to Vancouver to travel to Australia over LA any day! Since there are so many Aussies in Vancouver lets hope they can extend this past just the Australian summer!

  • Ben

    says:

    Lucas, not flown by JQ…. yet!

    Strange that QF is back on this seasonal route when they strangely didn’t feel the need during the 2010 winter games… hmmm.

  • John

    says:

    Chuck,
    Actually they should have had some lone range twins a while ago, 787/9s………………..if not for a small delay on Boeings part!

  • Adam

    says:

    Agreed John, if it werent for the delays QF could have been operating these a long time ago…but we cant live in the past like some people choose to…In any case, when Qantas comes back into the black later this financial year, things will start roaring…I for one am very excited about the future for QF and cant wait to see what lays ahead 😀

  • Adam

    says:

    And to the other John . – its very easy to make any route happen when you have the government writing cheques, just ask VA! Air NZ was able to do a lot of changes when it was 83% owned by their government and even now being over 50% owned they still have that safe fallback to rely on, if you want to compare apples, compare them with apples…not oranges mate

  • John .

    says:

    The NZ government doesn’t put money into Air NZ it has to stand on its own feet and pay a dividend to the government so it is a stand alone company makes its own decisions so you have it wrong Adam . Been a long time since the NZ government has written out any cheques for the airline. The government has no say in what routes the airline operates .

  • SC

    says:

    I have a feeling the downtime in YVR will be utilized to service aircraft.

  • Adam

    says:

    John . Air NZ was able to order planes, make changes to its company structure, do everything it needed to do to fix itself much more rapidly following the ansett collapse and order all those 777s and 787s while protected by the gvnt. If the aus gvnt did the same for Qantas, i’m sure it would be in the same position

  • ian

    says:

    very late announcement for Australians wanting to ski in Canada in January. Most (something like 85% according to one large snow wholesaler) have already booked & their flights are already locked in & they are not flying SYD/YVR nonstop.

  • franz chong

    says:

    They should make it year round.This was a long time ago now but I had a teacher who taught in Canada for a Year in 1987 who did the same trip ex Sydney on a Canadian DC10 which was via Honolulu but when it came time to bring in some Australian Students which I was a part of almost three years later on a Cultural Exchange We went Qantas on the 747’s also via HNL WHEN I was in his class for the rest of 1989 prior to this trip.I haven’t been back in many years but if this means no more having to clear US CUSTOMS IN LA all the better and Canadian Immigration in Vancouver I wish them well.

  • John .

    says:

    had very little to do with the NZ government it was Air NZ good management and planning which was all undertaken independently of the NZ govt . Qantas problem is their management and lack of planning and foresight too much interfering by and influences by the unions . They are all a bit late with their cuts no use after the horse has already bolted .

  • Boris

    says:

    Well, the A380 is also great, but they should have hedged 2 ways, be involved with the 747-8I. It is not ALL about economics; it is also about passenger psychology too. I would personally prefer a 4 engine aircraft when going over large, vast areas of ocean, compared to a twin, no matter what you tell me else-wise and many others feel the same too, albeit these options are being cut.

    Has Qantas dropped the ball, sure they have. They should not have deferred or transferred the 787 to Jetstar, and because it was Joyce’s baby, he did so.

    As for you complaining about Boeing’s delays, Qantas STILL would have had their aircraft before Jetstar, get your facts straight if Joyce-e didn’t transfer them to Jetsar, and then you have this:
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-stays-on-sidelines-as-boeing-orders-jump-20140424-3757e.html

    As for the route, it is great. At least it is a route operated by Qantas, not a code-share 🙁

    For all I know, Perth has an international airport, they should utilise it, and you can get a flight to there from the east coast, and then go Long Range to Europe, Non-Stop without the hassles of Arab countries etc.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Airport

    From there, then you can go Direct to UK, and you will also be able to support the locals indirectly, as a few people will choose to stay there for a couple of days instead of just changing aircraft. Many travel agencies would love to package a deal like overnight stay in Perth, or a couple of nights etc.

    Else, once they receive the 787-9 they can go direct to Athens, from Melbourne, so technically, Europe non-stop with fuel reserves and from there to other destinations, or Adelaide to Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden), and from Perth non-stop to London.
    And yes, I am aware of the London – Sydney 747 direct non-stop flight, but that was a delivery flight, not a commercial flight.

    So in short, Qantas has screwed up big time in many ways, especially after Joyce took over.
    Unions? Sure, those too, but we cannot compete on wages with Asian countries, we are supposed to be going forward, not backward.

    There are many great routes and city pairs to create with the 787’s.

    As for the 747ER’s, the Indian sub-continent is a great opportunity or they too can go to Rome and Athens non-stop, and sign an agreement with local carriers for forward destinations, or if they still had the BA agreement, they could have an agreement to get the passengers from ATH / LGAV to Heathrow, London, or from Rome FCO / LIRF to London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow. The problem is, they do not try it, they do not think much for optimising routes in Qantas! Many people do want direct flights or close as possible, plus the large communities in Australia of Italian and Greeks will make it work, for the direct flights and also the rest of the people that were sad when Singapore was dropped and HK to the UK and started code sharing . They can do it now; they do not need to wait for the 787-9’s.

    That is my opinion.

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