Qantas has revealed its new schedule from spring 2013 following the announcement of its 10-year global partnership with Emirates.
The Australian carrier today revealed schedule changes which involve moving its gateway hub to Europe from Singapore to Dubai. The new timetable takes effect on March 31 when Qantas’ joint business with British Airways officially ends after 17 years.
Qantas said that although the proposed partnership with Emirates still requires approval from Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), these revised flight times do not involve co-ordination between airlines and will not affected by the approval process.
Heathrow-Sydney (QF2) and Heathrow-Melbourne (QF10) flights, as previously announced, will stop over in Dubai instead of Singapore from the end of March. There will no longer be Qantas flights between Singapore and Heathrow although codeshare services with British Airways will remain.
Qantas’ flights from Heathrow will use Airbus A380s and will depart at 21.30 (QF2) to Sydney and 22.30 (QF10) to Melbourne. The return flights from Sydney (QF1) and Melbourne (QF9) will arrive back at Heathrow at 06.35 and 05.40 respectively.
The QF5/6 Sydney-Singapore-Frankfurt services will also remain - at least until the Singapore-Frankfurt leg is axed after October 2013.
As part of the changes, direct flights between Sydney and Singapore will be reduced from twice daily to 11 weekly.
Although the number of Qantas flights from Australia to Singapore will be slashed from next April onwards, flight times will be adjusted for better onwards connections within Asia.