Qantas to Upgrade Sydney to Perth, Brisbane to Perth Flights

5th Feb 2013

Starting April this year, Qantas will upgrade its equipment on weekday flights on Sydney-Perth and Brisbane-Perth routes, using Airbus A330 and Boeing 767s respectively. The said upgrades will mean increased capacity as both services will use wide-body aircraft.

Similar upgrade using the wide-body A330 aircraft is also in the pipeline for weekday flights on its Melbourne-Perth route the following month.

Qantas Domestic CEO, Lyall Strambi, disclosed that, by then, all its weekday services between Western Australia and Eastern states will now be serviced by an all-wide-body fleet. Currently, these routes are serviced by a mix of narrow and wide-body aircraft, depending on the demand.

The flag carrier, however, did not say whether or not they are also furbishing these wide-body planes with the lie-flat Skybed Mk 1 business seats which have been a fixture in their other planes or the recliners featuring blocked-off middle seat as was published late last year in Australian Business Traveller.

Most economy passengers prefer the twin-aisle, wide-body A330 for its layout 2-4-2 compared to B737's 3-3 layout which is especially uncomfortable for passengers whose seats are on the far side or near the window. Its CEO, Alan Joyce, is also cognizant of the absence of consistency in business class which has been a sore spot. But he said they will address the issue soon as they are on the process of upgrading all its fleet to provide better service.

The passengers flying on the Brisbane-Perth route, meanwhile, will get to enjoy the wide-body experience on a Boeing 767 planes from Monday all the way to Friday beginning March 31, 2013.

All of Qantas' domestic fleet of 767s are now being refurbished in preparation for its deployment as part of its upgrades program. Six of these aircraft are now in operation. The service upgrades include the refurbished interiors, the installation of Q Streaming (a wireless entertainment system using specially-programmed iPads) and leather recliner seats in all business class cabins.