Australia’s flag carrier Qantas has confirmed that it will launch flights between Sydney and Dallas from May 16 on a four-times weekly basis. The connection will be operated by a Boeing 747-400 routing via Brisbane on its return due to range constraints. At the same time the airline will drop its current service to San Francisco and will instead place its code on American Airlines’ flights to the Californian city from Los Angeles as part of its expanding partnership with its fellow oneworld alliance member. American Airlines has a much larger presence at Dallas Fort Worth and the two airlines will expand their commercial relationship in the coming months, including a substantial increase in codesharing and greater cooperation in scheduling, capacity and pricing.
There is no direct competition on the Sydney – Dallas route, according to Flightbase (January 14-20) with just over 10,000 passengers travelling between the cities between November 2009 and November 2010 (IATA BSP data) via indirect services. Qantas expects to generate additional traffic by placing its code on American’s flights from DFW to 13 further US destinations and three more in Mexico.
Qantas currently serves three destinations in the USA – Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco - accounting for 48 per cent of the total O+D traffic between the two countries, although it is facing increasing pressure from rivals including Delta Air Lines and Virgin Blue Airlines who are proposing their own antitrust agreement.
Related Content
