Qantas beginning July 28 will suspend flights between Sydney and Shanghai “due to low demand,” the carrier announced Tuesday.
The service resumed in October 2023 after being put on hold during the pandemic, “however demand has not recovered as anticipated.” The carrier intends to “monitor the Australia-China market closely,” and will return to Shanghai when demand has recovered, according to Qantas.
Customers still can travel to Shanghai via Qantas flights to Hong Kong that then connect to partner airlines, according to the carrier. Customers with tickets between Sydney and Shanghai for travel after July 28 will be offered a full refund, or they can rebook on alternative flights.
New, Expanded Routes
Qantas beginning Oct. 28 will launch a new route between Brisbane and Manila, the Philippines, the carrier also announced. Flights will operate four times weekly with Airbus A330 aircraft, “making it the first time the airline has flown between the two cities in more than 10 years,” according to Qantas.
In addition, from Dec. 11, flights between Sydney and Singapore will increase to 17 times weekly from 14, according to Qantas. And beginning Oct. 27, flights between Brisbane and Singapore will increase to nine per week from seven, to improve connectivity with Qantas’ daily service from Singapore to London, “reducing overall travel time to Heathrow by around four hours.”
Further, from mid-December 2024 to late-March 2025, Qantas will increase flights between Sydney and Bengaluru to daily from five times weekly. The change will add more than 12,000 seats between the two cities over the four-month period, according to the carrier.
