Qantas to renew Sydney / San Francisco flights

Qantas is set to return to San Francisco with flights from Sydney scheduled to begin on 20th December 2015, subject to regulatory approval.

This route enters the Qantas line-up as a result of the airline’s existing longstanding relationship with American Airlines which will introduce daily flights between Los Angeles and Sydney for the first time with the first flight scheduled for 19th December 2015. A codesharing arrangement between the airlines will free up Qantas’ B747s currently used on their Sydney to Los Angeles services and Melbourne to Los Angeles flights which will be replaced by the codesharing arrangement.

American Airlines’ will operate the flights using their new B777-300ER and customers will still be able to fly on daily Qantas A380 Sydney / Los Angeles and Melbourne / Los Angeles services, as well as its B747 Brisbane / Los Angeles flights with codesharing arrangements between the two airlines.

This constitutes a significant expansion of the longstanding relationship, which gives the US carrier access to Sydney from Los Angeles and makes possible the Qantas return to the Sydney / San Francisco route. These flights will operate using Qantas’ newer Boeing 747-400 aircraft with the same style interiors seen on the airline’s A380s.

In a statement issued on 10th June 2015, the Qantas-American Airlines arrangement will offer expanded access to Trans Pacific customers.

• The increase in services from Sydney to Los Angeles from 14 to 17 per week will give customers 45 combined services per week.
• Connections to more than 150 destinations throughout North America on American Airline’s wide network will make onward travel easier. 
• Customers flying into Sydney will have easier access to more than 60 Qantas Group destinations across Australia and New Zealand.
• The codeshare flights with American Airlines on the B777-300ER will offer expanded customer and cargo capacity.
• Qantas’ six times weekly flights on the Sydney-San Francisco route will use the reconfigured B747-400 with an award winning Economy cabin and large -seat-back screens in each cabin with over 1500 entertainment options.

Although the SYD-SFO services are scheduled to begin on 20th December, they will not operate on 23rd, 24th, 25th and 31st December, 2015.

Qantas has released the following summary of their North American network and the relevant frequency changes:

Schedule for North America