3 days Ago By James Pearson
Qantas' latest schedule submission to OAG shows that it will reintroduce flights from Perth to Johannesburg and Auckland . While neither route is available to book, Aeroroutes says it will change soon. Qantas will become the second operator in both markets, joining South African Airways from Johannesburg and Air New Zealand from Auckland.
It benefits from the gap left by Batik Air Malaysia following its last Perth-Auckland flight in 2024. Johannesburg and Auckland bring Qantas' international network from Perth to six nonstop destinations this year, the most for many years . They join London Heathrow , Paris CDG , Rome Fiumicino , and Singapore .
However, as Rome is only served in the northern summer and Auckland and Johannesburg will return in December, five destinations will be served simultaneously during the southern summer. Qantas Is Restarting Perth-Johannesburg Flights On December 7, timed for the peak season and Christmas, Australia's flag carrier will reintroduce service from Western Australia to South Africa's most populous city. According to OAG, it last served the route in March 2023.
It covers 4,495 nautical miles (8,325 km) each way and is scheduled as follows , with all times local. It will join its nonstop service from Sydney to Johannesburg . When Qantas last operated, it had the market to itself.
However, it will compete directly with SAA, which relaunched the route in April 2024 following Qantas' exit. While SAA had a daily operation in 2019, it now mainly runs five weekly on the increasingly rare but far from economical A340-300s. In 2024, Perth had 34,000 round-trip local Johannesburg passengers, primarily focused on the South African population in the Western Australian capital.
Qantas will also target passengers bound for New Zealand and other Australian cities. Starts Direction Days Times (local) Block Equipment December 7 Perth to Johannesburg (QF65) Tuesdays, Fridays, Sundays 13:30-18:45 11h 15m A330-200 December 7 Johannesburg to Perth (QF66) Tuesdays, Fridays, Sundays 21:35-13:30+1 9h 55m A330-200 Qantas Will Return To Auckland After Nearly 8 Years OAG shows Australia's flag carrier last served Perth to Auckland in January 2018. At 2,888 nautical miles (5,349 km) each way, it is the longest route between Australia and New Zealand.
Booking data shows that 148,000 local passengers flew between the two cities last year, including because of the large New Zealander population. Most people flew nonstop with Air New Zealand and Batik. As aforementioned, Batik ended Kuala Lumpur-Perth-Auckland flights in 2024 (the block time was 14+ hours on 737s!).
Qantas' operations are scheduled as follows, with all times local. Notice the painfully early 04:45 arrival in New Zealand. In December, OAG shows it will be the earliest scheduled arrival in New Zealand from Australia, beating Jetstar from Brisbane to Auckland (05:10).
Qantas' schedule suggests that the A330 will be swapped in Auckland. While operating entirely separate services, aircraft will route Auckland-Perth-Johannesburg-Perth-Auckland . Starts Direction Days Times (local) Block Equipment December 8 Perth to Auckland (QF111) Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays 17:00-04:45+1 6h 45m A330-200 December 7 Auckland to Perth (QF112) Tuesdays, Fridays, Sundays 08:30-11:30 8h 00m A330-200 Three of the 13 routes started in 2024/2025.
Auckland Regains Second Airline From Perth Since Batik Air ended the route in July 2024, Air New Zealand has been the only carrier serving the long trans-Tasman link. Generally, it operates daily but has nine weekly flights during April and between July and October. It has been several years since frequencies were that high.
Being the sole operator must surely have been one factor for the increase. In December, when Qantas returns, Air New Zealand will operate daily on its 342-seat 777-300ERs (the variant also plays a key role in transporting freight). NZ175 will leave Auckland at 14:05 and arrive in Western Australia at 16:55 local time.
Returning, NZ176 will depart at 18:50 and arrive home at 06:25+1. This schedule is not about North America but rather connectivity across New Zealand..
