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Qantas is increasing its international capacity from Brisbane on two medium-haul routes.
From late October this year, the Flying Kangaroo will replace E190s with 737s on its Brisbane–Wellington services, adding more than 600 weekly seats, as well as seasonally increasing Brisbane–Apia flights from three to five per week until mid-January, adding more than 300 weekly seats.
In total, Qantas International chief executive officer Cam Wallace said the changes will add more than 35,000 international seats from Brisbane every year.
“This boost to our Queensland network is about giving our customers more choice on routes where we are seeing strong demand,” he said.
“We’ve had a fantastic response from Queenslanders wanting to travel across the Tasman since our Wellington route first launched late last year.
“The new service also makes it easier for Kiwis to experience the world-famous beaches in Queensland and access the Great Barrier Reef or connect through Brisbane to our extensive domestic network in the Sunshine State and beyond.”
The news comes after Qantas subsidiary Jetstar last year massively increased its international services from Brisbane.
The airline shifted its Tokyo (Narita) service from the Gold Coast to Brisbane, commenced new direct flights from Brisbane to Osaka and Seoul (Incheon), and upped the frequency of its existing flights to Bali and Auckland as well as introducing the Airbus A321neo LR (NEO) on its Bali and Auckland routes.
According to Brisbane Airport CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff, the Jetstar deal is the biggest injection of low-fare seats Brisbane has ever seen.
“We look forward to welcoming more travellers from New Zealand, Japan and Seoul enabling them to get out and explore our region and state,” he said in June last year.
“We are also excited to see Jetstar deploying the new quieter and fuel-efficient Airbus A321neo on these new BNE flights.
“Brisbane Airport is committed to reducing the noise impact for our nearby communities and we know that next-generation aircraft are an important part of this solution.”
