Qantas will launch flights from Sydney to New York via Auckland in June 2023, in direct competition with Air New Zealand’s upcoming Big Apple route.
The airline will operate a Boeing 787 three days a week on the marathon flight, which will act as a prelude to nonstop Sydney-New York flights under Project Sunrise from late 2025.
After the quick three-hour drive to Auckland, travelers will buckle up for a 16-hour stretch to New York’s JFK Airport.
New York flights will inherit the QF3/QF4 flight numbers that adorned the route when it called at Honolulu.
- QF3 will depart Sydney on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:45am, arriving in Auckland at 2:50pm; then you will depart for New York at 5:00 pm and arrive at JFK airport at 5:15 pm on the same day
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QF4 will depart New York on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday at 7:30pm, arriving in Auckland at 5:00am the following day, departing at 8:00am for a 9:40am arrival in Sydney
Tickets for QF3/QF4 go on sale today, and the June 16 outbound flight will be designated as Points Plans where all seats, from tip to tail, can be booked at Classic Reward fares, with one way in business class at 144,600 Qantas Points. .
“We can’t wait to return to New York and it’s made possible by the delivery of new aircraft, which have been caught up in delays that have affected many airlines,” says Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce, adding that three new Dreamliners would hit hangars next year.
As with its flights from Perth to London and Rome, Qantas expects travelers from other Australian cities to head to Sydney to join the journey to New York, saying departures from Sydney “will be timed to offer convenient connections”.
Qantas currently operates six daily services to Auckland from Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, which will increase to 11 daily services when the new flight to New York is launched.
As well as connecting flights from East Coast capitals, Joyce aims to see “hopefully more destinations flying into Auckland to connect with, so that we provide a stopover from all the major Australian capitals”.
He believes the route will have particularly strong appeal because it skips the tortuous layover in Los Angeles where travelers have to go through customs and immigration to pick up and then recheck their bags before queuing to go through security and back home. the VIP room.
“We see significant advantages over LAX because Auckland is a much better and easier airport to connect to,” says Joyce.
But it’s not just about Aussies flying to New York. “A lot of US traffic actually likes to do dual destinations for leisure travel, which allows us to take advantage of that – stop over in Auckland and then go on to Australia, which we think is going to be really big.”
“We can also pick up passengers leaving Auckland or going to Auckland (so) I think this route will be very popular with Australians given the opportunity to connect through Auckland and it also gives New Zealanders more options.”
And Joyce expects the New York to Auckland route to remain after the late-2025 launch of Project Sunrise nonstop flights from Sydney and Melbourne to New York.
“When we do Sydney-New York, we consider that there will probably (still) be a market for Auckland-New York, as there are many routes that we take to be complementary to each other and potentially serve a slightly different market. … we are optimistic that this will continue even after Sunrise.”
qantas too Finally upgrade its Auckland lounges ahead of the New York flight’s debut in June 2023, with the current Business and First lounges being replaced with a single and a significantly improved ‘premium lounge’ experience.
And before the flight from New York, business class travelers and frequent flyers will enjoy a visit to one of three new lounges jointly operated by Oneworld member American Airlines and British Airways in Terminal 8.
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