Qantas will grow its network in the United States when it commences direct flights between Brisbane and Chicago and San Francisco. The new routes, which are subject to the approval of its joint business with American Airlines from the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), will be operated by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, and are expected to launch by the end of April 2020. The announcement follows the DOT’s tentative approval of the joint business between Qantas and American earlier this month.
Directly linking Australia and the third-largest US city for the first time, Qantas will operate the flights four times per week between Brisbane and Chicago. The city is one of American Airlines’ major hubs, giving Qantas customers access to 30 additional unique one-stop destinations from Australia. With the added gateway, Qantas customers will be able to connect to more than 200 onward destinations from Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth.
The direct service from Brisbane will save customers flying between Australia and Chicago more than six hours of travel time on a return trip.
The new three-times-per-week Brisbane to San Francisco service will complement Qantas’ existing flights from Sydney and Melbourne – meaning customers could choose from double daily Dreamliner services from Australia’s east coast to San Francisco.
The 14,326km flight between Brisbane and Chicago will take approximately 16 hours 20 minutes and is expected to be the fourth-longest passenger flight in the world when it launches. The 11,367km flight between Brisbane and San Francisco will take approximately 12 hours 40 minutes and will see the number of flights between San Fran and Australian cities increase to 14 per week.
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