Qantas returns to San Francisco

Qantas and American Airlines today announced an expansion of their relationship, which will see Qantas return to San Francisco.

In return, the US carrier will fly from Los Angeles to Sydney for the first time.

As part of the changes, the four year old Qantas and American Airlines joint venture will shift to a revenue share agreement.

Qantas will return to the Sydney-San Francisco route from 20 December 2015.

Services will initially operate on peak day^ and ramp up to six per week in January 2016 using its newer Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

Qantas’ flights to San Francisco are made possible by American Airlines starting a direct daily Sydney to Los Angeles service from 19 December 2015. This will replace four Qantas’ B747 Sydney to Los Angeles services per week and one Qantas B747 Melbourne to Los Angeles service per week.

American Airlines’ Trans-Pacific flights will be operated by its new B777-300ER featuring lie-flat seats in First and Business. Qantas will retain its daily A380 Sydney to Los Angeles and Melbourne to Los Angeles services, as well as its B747 Brisbane-Los Angeles flights, and the airlines will codeshare on each other’s services.

Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said: “This deal strengthens the long-standing ties between us to provide a platform for future growth across the Pacific. At its heart, this is about delivering an enhanced network for customers of both airlines.

“Together with American, we can offer direct flights and unrivalled frequencies from Australia to Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas Fort Worth, seasonal services to Vancouver and one stop services to JFK via LAX.

“San Francisco is now the most popular onward destination for Qantas’ customers travelling to the U.S. We know there is a strong demand for direct flights, particularly from our corporate clients who will save about four hours each way by not having to connect through LAX.

“The world’s largest airline will be talking a lot more about Australia in their home market, and that’s great news for tourism,” added Mr Joyce.

American Airlines chairman and CEO Doug Parker said: “Strengthening these ties has provided us with a solid foundation to introduce American-operated flights into the Australian region.”

“Our customers have asked us to expand to important business markets across the Pacific, and flying our flagship aircraft, the Boeing 777-300ER, to Sydney will provide another world-class travel experience from our key gateway at LAX.”

 sourced:traveldailymedia.com