After being on hold for two years, Qantas flights between Brisbane and Chicago may finally take flight later this year. As recently reported in Simple Flying, Brisbane Airport’s CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff flagged the prospect when commenting on the resumption of Qantas international services from his airport late last month.
Chicago flights fall by the wayside
In July 2019, Qantas announced the 8,900 mile (14,320 kilometer) route between Australia’s third-biggest city and the third-biggest city in the US. Then the fourth-longest flight in the world, a Qantas Boeing 787-9 was to fly between the two cities four times a week from April 20, 2020. At least, that was the plan.
The flights fell victim to COVID-19, and a decision by Qantas to suspend virtually all international flights in March 2020. More recently, the Australian airline has begun rebooting its international network, largely on a route-by-route basis. But so far, there’s been no firm word from Qantas when the Chicago flights might finally get off the ground.
Qantas resumed its first international flights from Brisbane Airport last week – a long time coming, you might say. However, Queensland made a rod for its own back by prolonging quarantine requirements longer than necessary and, in the process, zeroing out interest from Qantas regarding international flights from Brisbane.
Qantas resumed international flights from Brisbane last week. Photo: Brisbane Airport Corporation
Brisbane Airport’s CEO raises the prospect of Chicago flights later this year
But that’s all water under the bridge now, and Qantas is flying three times a week to Singapore using Airbus A330-300 aircraft and five times a week to Los Angeles using A330-200s from Brisbane. It was in the lead up to the resumption of the Los Angeles flights that Gert-Jan de Graaff made an interesting comment about future Chicago flights.
“Qantas’ longstanding commitment to the state has always reflected its origins as a Queensland airline,” he said. “Prior to the pandemic, plans were well advanced on direct services to San Francisco and Chicago. We hope to see these plans become a reality once again, later this year.”
This wasn’t some throwaway line; it was part of a formal statement from the airport. What’s less certain is whether it was a firm hint of something happening later this year or a motherhood statement to keep the route on the agenda at Qantas.
Brisbane Airport CEOÂ Gert-Jan de Graaff. Photo: Brisbane Airport Corporation
Flight movements on the US – Australia run
Meanwhile, the second new Qantas route to the US from Brisbane slated to start in 2020 was to San Francisco. That also fell by the wayside when the pandemic struck. Despite resuming flights to Los Angeles from Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, Qantas remains skittish on restarting flights to San Francisco. Qantas has quietly pushed back the resumption of SFO flights from Sydney to late July and has said nothing about flights restarting from either Melbourne or Brisbane.
In other flight news between the US and Australia, as reported by Executive Traveller, United Airlines has rejigged the restart date of its Melbourne – San Francisco flights to June 5. The airline had previously flagged a May 10 resumption. Competitor Delta Air Lines, recently jilted by Virgin Australia as its US codeshare partner, is also increasing its flights to Sydney from seven a week to ten a week later this year – an interesting twist on that tale.
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