QF 1/2 to be rerouted via SIN by March 25, 2018
 

Press release: https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/me...d-partnership/

Schedule hasn't been filed. Likely will sit on top of the BA flights.


- QF 1/2 to fly via Singapore to London instead of Dubai
- Qantas A380 daily Melbourne-Singapore service introduced
- Emirates’ network into Europe remains key for our customers

I’m [Alan Joyce] pleased to share our plans to extend our cornerstone partnership with Emirates for another five years, with some important changes.

The partnership has been extremely successful for Qantas. For instance, we’ve seen the number of passengers travelling on QF code to Europe increase from 400,000 to 1.2 million. On average more than 10,000 Emirates passengers have travelled on Qantas’ domestic and regional services within Australia each month.

Since 2012, we’ve also seen changes to customer demand, aircraft technology and the networks of both airlines. So, we’re making some adjustments to evolve the partnership from 25 March 2018.

This will include re-routing our daily Sydney-London A380 service via Singapore rather than Dubai, and upgrading our existing daily Melbourne-Singapore flight from an A330 to an A380. As already announced, QF9/10 will fly Melbourne-Perth-London on the Dreamliner instead of Melbourne-Dubai-London on the A380.

These adjustments give Qantas passengers three options to Europe – via Dubai, Perth, or Singapore. It will also provide financial upside to both airlines, with the estimated net benefit to Qantas in excess of $80 million per year from FY19 onwards.

I'm still looking for the downside (so cynical of me).
It seems that bringing SIN back in the picture as a way point to Europe (and generally every where else in Asia) is a plus. While Emirates certainly flew SIN-AUS they are not a one world carrier so that limits the options a little.

Am I missing a downside?

The MEL-DXB-LHR originally requires 2 hauls per 24 hours. However the new MEL-SIN rt up gauge only requires 1 haul. PER-LHR is on 789.

So there's one A380 missing from the currently announced schedule. Stay tuned.

Hinted at a few days ago, http://www.australianfrequentflyer.c...sh-a380-fleet/

And with the new J suite being rolled out on the A380, QF might again be a viable option to London.^

This is great news! Looking forward to using the LHR to SIN route.

So the SIN lounge is going to get pretty crowded?

Well that will reduce my DXB shower queue by a few at 1am :)

This is an excellent move by QF imo, and I look forward to booking an F award ex SYD to SIN.

I don't see a downside, I'd rather transfer at SIN than DXB (granted I'm not a super traveler but SIN was nicer and less hectic IMO). What are the times of day? Is it better to have the long haul (13+ hour leg) first, or second?

The downside is I can't fly AKL-MEL-DXB on QF anymore, avoiding the marathon AKL-DXB non-status earning EK option. AKL-MEL-DXB and return lined up perfectly with my Flydubai connections too.

This makes me happy as SIN was far preferable. I can still do LHR - DXB - MEL on EK metal if I wish as well. Will be interested to see F prices once all schedules are loaded. Cannot see any QF/EK codeshare exLHR at present.

So QF must have got a better offer from SIN Airport (slot times, cost, delays etc). Now QF has a job to win back those who have been forced onto other airlines (better ?) that don't stop in the ME.

Today EK F costs roughly the same as QF J on SIN-Oz routes; which gives a hint at the future QF pricing :)

12 A380s in the fleet.
2 used for each of QF11/12 (SYD-LAX), QF93/94 (MEL-LAX) and QF7/8 (SYD-DFW). 3 used for QF1/2 (SYD-LHR). That's 9.
Today's announced MEL-SIN uses 1.
1 is in MNL for heavy maintenance during off peak times. Leaving 1 available.

This is very likely to be SYD-HKG, allowing the retirement of 1 747 (which currently operates 1 of the 2 SYD-HKG flights).
SYD-HKG is currently A380 during peak times when there isn't any scheduled heavy maintenance.

Then there would be 1 available for seasonal routes.

Deleted - realised your cheeky point ;)