Summary
- Qantas’ first Johannesburg flight using the Airbus A380 will now be nearly three months later than previously planned.
- It’ll replace the Boeing 787-9, providing greater than double the seats and offering top notch.
- Qantas carried roughly 144,000 passengers between Sydney and Johannesburg within the 12 months to November 2023.
The introduction of the A380 between Sydney and Johannesburg has been further delayed. In response to Qantas’ latest schedule upload to Cirium, reflected in booking engines, the double-decker quadjet will now be used to South Africa on September 30.
What is going on?
After the coronavirus-driven pause, Qantas returned to Johannesburg in January 2022 using the Boeing 787-9. The 6,863-mile (11,044 km) route is now expected to see the A380 for the primary time on September 30 as an alternative of the previously scheduled July 8.
The airline’s highest-capacity equipment will now operate to South Africa within the southern spring, not long before the height summer demand. As at all times, further changes remain possible, but this example is as of February 12.
Photo: Phuong D. Nguyen | Shutterstock
When the 485-seat A380 is deployed to South Africa, Qantas will initially operate five weekly, down from the current six weekly. Nonetheless, it should return to 6 weekly in late October. Based on September 30, the schedule is as follows, with all times local:
- Sydney to Johannesburg: QF63, 09:30-16:10 (14h 40m)
- Johannesburg to Sydney: QF64, 18:40-14:35+1 (11h 55m)
When the double-decker takes over, assuming no more changes, the kind will likely be used to Johannesburg from Sydney, London Heathrow via Singapore from Sydney, and Los Angeles from Melbourne and Sydney.
Qantas’ Johannesburg route
In response to booking data, Qantas carried about 144,000 roundtrip passengers between Sydney and Johannesburg within the 12 months to November 2023. Relating traffic to capability, it filled roughly 90% of seats.
The route advantages from the big South African population in Australia and the otherwise significant detour, mainly via the Middle East or Singapore, for those traveling between the 2 cities.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Easy Flying
The 144,000 passengers included everyone, no matter origin and destination. Breaking it down further shows that about 41% of passengers transferred to a different Qantas flight in Sydney, with Brisbane, Melbourne, and Auckland the biggest O&Ds. As you possibly can tell, the market is kind of obvious.
An extra quarter of passengers were local: they only flew between the 2 cities. Some 18% connected to a different flight in Johannesburg (Cape Town, Durban, and Harare were the most important markets), while the remaining 16% of passengers connected in each Sydney Johannesburg (Brisbane-Cape Town, Auckland-Cape Town, and Melbourne-Cape Town were the highest three O&Ds).
Two Australia-South Africa routes
Complementing Qantas’ Johannesburg service is beleaguered South African Airways between Johannesburg and Perth. The route, almost entirely over water, is ready to resume on April 28 using the A340-300. There will likely be an initial three weekly flights, partly on account of the carrier’s lack of aircraft.
![South African Airways Airbus A340-300](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/shutterstock_1725522253.jpg)
South African Airways’ Returning Johannesburg-Perth Route: Does It Make Sense?
That is what I feel.
While the A340 is increasingly rare and due to this fact significant for avgeeks, it shouldn’t be desirable to make use of given its poor fuel consumption and economics. Consequently, the airline has said it should switch to the far more logical A330-300 as soon as possible.
Nonetheless, the route is smart for SAA, although the schedule means it should rely more on Johannesburg P2P passengers, albeit offset by a lower frequency than previously.
Have you ever flown Qantas’ A380s? If that’s the case, share your experience within the comment section.