Qantas Group is to boost international and domestic capacity in the April-June quarter, with the Airbus A380 making a brief return to Hong Kong, as the airline prepares for the peak Easter travel period.
In an update on 22 March, the group – comprising mainline operator Qantas and low-cost carrier Jetstar – expects domestic capacity to be 2% higher than pre-pandemic levels, on the back of “significant increases” in flights on Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane triangle, as well as deploying widebodies on transcontinental flights to Perth.
Jetstar will also take delivery of more Airbus A321LRs during the upcoming quarter, boosting its system-wide capacity by 15 percentage points.
On the international front, Qantas will also operate the A380 on flights to Hong Kong after a three-year hiatus - a significant up-gauge against the A330 currently deployed. Qantas says the superjumbo will operate until June, when it restarts flights from Hong Kong to Melbourne.
During the April quarter, both Qantas and Jetstar will launch and boost frequencies on a number of international flights, including Melbourne-Tokyo Haneda, Brisbane-Auckland, as well as Melbourne-Jakarta.
Flights to Singapore from Melbourne and Brisbane will also see an increase in frequencies, the airline says.
The airline group reported a record underlying pre-tax profit of A$1.4 billion ($937 million) for the six months ended 31 December 2022, on the back of “robust” travel demand and higher yields.
It disclosed then that it was looking to pick up used aircraft to meet strong demand from leisure travel, resources and domestic freight markets.
