Seats went on sale toady (16 June) for Qantas” premier Airbus A380 route from Melbourne to Los Angeles which will commence on 20 October.
The airline”s first super-jumbo will operate two return services each week to LA, with the second flying from Sydney (from 24 October).
Once it takes delivery of a second A380 in November, Qantas then plans to run two Melbourne-LA rotations (Mondays and Wednesdays) and three Sydney-LA rotations (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays) each week. It will also introduce the aircraft progressively on selected flights from Sydney to Singapore and London from early next year.
Each aircraft will be configured with 450 seats, with 14 First Suites, 72 Business, 32 Premium Economy and 332 Economy.
A complete redesign of the airline”s First Class cabin offers passengers more privacy, and Business fliers will enjoy fully-flat seats and a dedicated lounge.
”All four classes of the A380 will offer passengers greater levels of space and comfort, as well as state-of-the-art interiors designed by Qantas creative director Marc Newson,” said Qantas Group general manager sales and distribution Rob Gurney.
”The aircraft will also offer significant improvements in terms of environmental performance, including reduced fuel consumption and emissions, greater efficiency and less noise.”
Earlier this month, Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon said that although frequency on its Sydney-Los Angeles route would switch from 17 to 15 weekly services once the airline had launched its A380 on the route, the ”larger [aircraft] will enable us to grow Melbourne-Los Angeles capacity and maintain our total current capacity levels from Australia to the USA.”
Lead-in fares will initially be the same as those on comparable Qantas Boeing 747 services, except for the revamped First Suites which will be more expensive.
Qantas will be the third airline to fly Airbus” giant passenger jumbo ” Singapore Airlines is the first, and Emirates will begin scheduled services between Dubai and New York on 1 October.