Qantas has resumed flights to New York from Sydney for the first time in over three years. The new route will operate via Auckland instead of Los Angeles.
Flights will initially operate three days per week with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, increasing to four from October, offering more than 1,800 seats on the route each week.
Travelling on the inaugural flight, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “The airline was thrilled to be carrying Australians to New York once again. Since international borders re-opened, New York has been one of the most popular destinations for our customers who have been connecting on our partners from Qantas flights arriving into Los Angeles and Dallas, so it’s not surprising that we’ve seen very strong demand since our New York flights went on sale.
“The launch of the route has been made possible by the delivery of new 787 aircraft in recent weeks and brings us closer to returning our international capacity to what it was before COVID,” Joyce added.
The Qantas Group is expected to return to around 100% of its international network pre-COVID capacity by March 2024, up from around 85%of pre-COVID levels.