Qantas is to make further cuts in capacity on routes to Asia as the economic chaos takes an increasing toll on passenger numbers on certain routes.
The airline is also moving to bolster services elsewhere, particularly in the Philippines, where the Australian carrier moved to double capacity following the pilot sackings which have decimated Philippines Airlines (PAL) services.
Commercial general manager Geoff Dixon says that the airline is suspending some services - including, from October, five weekly flights from Sydney and Cairns to Fukuoka in Japan and, from August, a Sydney-Tokyo service and two weekly flights to Vietnam. It will also reduce Perth-Jakarta services from three to two a week.
At the same time, Qantas is building its services elsewhere, primarily to boost services to the Philippines, in response to PALs shutdown of Australian services. Dixon says that Qantas plans to convert its five weekly scheduled Boeing 767-300 services to a daily 747SP service from late June, effectively doubling its capacity on the route.
Other changes include two additional Sydney-Los Angeles services from 11 September; a seventh weekly Sydney-Singapore-Mumbai service and a fifth weekly service between Adelaide and Singapore from August.
Qantas will be the first carrier to place a 767 in service with Honeywell's FANS-compatible Pegasus flight management system, when it takes delivery of the first of two -300s next month.
Source: Flight International
