Qantas restarts Brisbane to Los Angeles service

A Qantas A330-200, VH-EBN, in Melbourne YMML as shot by Victor Pody.

Qantas has restarted its service from Brisbane to Los Angeles after suspending it for more than two years.

The Airbus 330-200, VH-EBM, took off at 10:26 am local time as flight QF55 and is expected to arrive on 2 April at 6:30am.

Moving forward, the service will operate five times per week, departing at 10am from the Queensland capital and 10:20am from LAX.

The airport’s chief executive, Gert-Jan de Graaff said, “California is the largest state source market for US visitors to Australia. These services will allow American visitors to begin their Australian trip in Brisbane before taking advantage of BNE’s extensive domestic network to visit the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsundays or other interstate destinations.

“The easy road connections between BNE and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts also make this the ideal Australian entry point for travelling Americans.”

The route is only the second active Qantas route from Brisbane, with flights also operating to Singapore.

It will soon see its network significantly expand when New Zealand drops its remaining COVID border restrictions, first flying to Auckland on 13 April before adding Port Moresby, Christchurch and Queenstown in the coming months.

Travellers will still need to present a negative COVID-19 test before departure, and two rapid antigen tests within a week of arrival but will not need to isolate.

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The news comes after Qantas said last month it would operate a new route from Melbourne to the US hub airport of Dallas Fort Worth in December.

The four-times-weekly flights will be serviced by its 787-9s and land at a destination that provides quick ongoing connections to major US cities including New York, Chicago and Miami.

The airline also said it would increase flights between Melbourne to LA from four to eight weekly, effective immediately, and reintroduce the A380 on the service from December.