Qantas Resumes Sydney-Shanghai Flights
Qantas is now doing final inspections in preparation for the reintroduction of flights to mainland China. Non-stop trips between Sydney and Shanghai will finally resume on October 29 — more than three years after the route was an early victim of the global epidemic in February 2020.
It just so happens that this also happens to be the day when China Eastern Airlines starts operating flights between Brisbane and Shanghai, adding to the airline’s already established route between Sydney and Shanghai.
aboard Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday of each week, Qantas will fly to the destination that has been dubbed the “Paris of the East” aboard an Airbus A330 that has been outfitted with 28 lie-flat business class seats arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration.
The QF129 flight will leave Sydney at 10:55 am and arrive at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai at 6:30 pm, almost ten hours and thirty minutes after it left Sydney.
The QF130 overnight flight leaves Shanghai at 8:05 pm and arrives in Sydney at 9:45 am the following morning.
Despite the fact that Qantas and China Eastern have maintained a fruitful business relationship for a significant amount of time, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has only lately issued a draft rejection notice regarding the possibility of extending that agreement.
In light of the recent uptick in travel, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) expressed worry that the hook-up “may breach competition laws” and expressed worries that there may be “opportunity and incentive to increase prices” in comparison to what airlines would charge if they did not have the alliance.
Qantas is now rebuilding its fleet, which includes fresh deliveries of Boeing 787 aircraft as well as some creative lease agreements, such as the use of Finnair planes between Sydney and Asia. As a result, the airline is able to resume its service between Sydney and Shanghai.
The Oneworld member’s Airbus A330 will begin operating on behalf of Qantas between Sydney and Singapore beginning in late October 2023, and then between Sydney and Bangkok beginning in late March 2024. The aircraft will be equipped with the game-changing lounge business class and will be manned by crew members from Finnair.
With newly appointed CEO Vanessa Hudson at the helm, Qantas is making strides in resetting its direction. The company recently unveiled plans to channel an additional $80 million towards reducing the most obvious ‘pain points’ for customers until June of 2024.
