Qantas unveils seven new routes in response to surge in domestic travel, including Perth to Gold Coast

Qantas has unveiled seven new domestic routes in response to the growing demand for regional travel while international borders remain shut because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The nation’s largest aviation group will implement new direct routes to destinations such as Tasmania, Uluru and the Gold Coast.

The additional services bring the total of new routes offered by Qantas and Jetstar to 45 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Qantas Domestic and International chief executive Andrew David said the expansion was fuelled by the growing activity in domestic tourism, with the airline needing to bring on more direct services to meet demand.

He noted more direct routes would save customers hours in waiting for connecting flights.

“As most international travel remains off limits for now, Australians are taking more regular holidays within the country, and we expect these new direct flights to key tourism destinations will be popular with travellers,” Mr David said.

“Our customers now have 45 more routes to fly than we had pre-Covid, making it even easier for them to get to their next holiday or business meeting.

“Previously, travelling between these cities meant a connecting flight in the middle, but now they can fly direct and save at least an hour in the process.”

The new routes include Townsville to Adelaide and Melbourne, Adelaide to Hobart, and Perth to the Gold Coast.

Qantas has added the following new routes:

• Townsville to Adelaide
• Townsville to Melbourne
• Townsville to Sydney
• Adelaide to Cairns
• Adelaide to Hobart
• Sydney to Uluru
• Perth to Gold Coast

Five of the new services will be flown on the airline’s Embraer E190 regional jets in partnership with Alliance Airlines.

Larger aircraft will be used on transcontinental flights between Perth and east coast cities.

The move will mean more of Qantas’ grounded planes will be back in the sky, including its A330s and long-haul international Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Qantas’ Dreamliners will now be operating nine flights a week between Sydney and Perth and have a 236 seat capacity, including business class.

“Our strategy of adding new domestic routes is generating revenue from our aircraft rather than leaving them on the ground. It means more work for our people and even more low fares for our customers,” Mr David said.

“We know how popular the 787s and A330s are with our customers on our international network, and we think there will be huge demand for the domestic flights these aircraft operate on, particularly frequent flyers looking to use points.”

In the coming months, Qantas expects its domestic capacity to exceed its pre-pandemic levels by 100 per cent and to claim a 70 per cent share of Australia’s aviation market.