Qantas today announced that four 787-9 Dreamliners will be based in Brisbane, bringing 470 new jobs and opening up new potential international routes.
The first of eight Dreamliners ordered by the national carrier will be delivered from Boeing in late October this year, and the first to be based in Brisbane will arrive in mid-2018. All four Brisbane-based aircraft will be in place by the end of 2018.
Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said basing four of the airline’s Dreamliners in Brisbane will help drive international tourism into the state over the long term.
“Queensland is the birthplace of Qantas and it’s fitting that we will base four of our Dreamliners in the state. The 787 offers a step-change for customers in terms of comfort and efficiency and we are pleased Queenslanders will be able to experience them direct from Brisbane.
“Each aircraft we base in Brisbane brings new jobs. One hundred and twenty of our Dreamliner cabin crew and pilots will be based in the city, with many choosing to settle in the state. A further 350 indirect jobs are expected to be created as a result.
“We’ve said that initially our Dreamliners will replace the routes that our older 747 fly but there are also new destinations we are looking at given the capability of the aircraft. A range of exciting options is on the table that will help drive tourism to the state and we look forward to making that decision in coming months.
“I’d like to acknowledge the support of the Queensland Government, Brisbane Airport Corporation and Tourism Australia for helping to make our Brisbane Dreamliner base a reality,” said Mr Joyce.
From Brisbane, the Qantas Dreamliner is capable of flying non-stop to destinations such as Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco in the United States, Vancouver in Canada, as well as Asia.
Qantas recently completed the reconfiguration of its A330 fleet at its Brisbane hangar and is installing Wi-Fi on a number of its 737 and A330 aircraft, that operate domestically, at the airline’s Brisbane base.
In 2016 Qantas opened its new International Business Lounge and opened a new domestic lounge precinct with a Business Lounge and Valet earlier this year. The Qantas Club in Brisbane is due to open in coming months.
Qantas operates 58 return, direct international services each week from Brisbane to Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Noumea, Port Moresby, Singapore and Tokyo. The airline also operates more than 620 return services from Brisbane per week to 25 destinations across its domestic network and more than 390 return services per week to 20 destinations within Queensland.
In December 2016 Qantas announced that the airline’s first four in its fleet of eight Dreamliners would be based in Melbourne, serving the Melbourne – Los Angeles route from December 2017 and the Melbourne – London (via Perth) route from March 2018. This is the world’s first service to link Australia directly with the UK.
Qantas will take delivery of its first Dreamliner in October 2017 with the 787-9 operating on domestic sectors for six weeks for crew training and familiarisation before its first scheduled Melbourne – Los Angeles service on 15 December 2017.
