QANTAS has recently introduced non-stop A380 services between Sydney and Dallas/Fort Worth. This new service comes in the 60th anniversary year of Qantas services between Australia and the US. In 1954, Qantas operated a Super Constellation from Sydney to San Francisco – its first trans-Pacific route to North America.
Qantas recently announced increased services to the US, and will now offer customers 41 services per week to North America. About half of these services are operated by A380 aircraft and the other half by B747s with A380-style interiors.Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce says introducing A380 services between Sydney and Dallas/Fort Worth, which is the only direct flight from Australia to inland United States, would also provide greater convenience for customers. The new A380 service will also create further opportunities for both tourism and trade between Australia and the US.Destination New South Wales (NSW) chief executive officer Sandra Chipchase says, “The new non-stop services, supported by Destination NSW, will deliver an extra 13,700 visitors to Sydney every year, providing a boost to the state’s economy and making it easier for Americans to experience our pristine beaches, vibrant and diverse events, Aussie hospitality and our State’s outstanding food and wine. “The US is one of our top five key inbound visitor markets. In the past financial year 317,000 visitors from the United States contributed approximately $546 million into the NSW economy, so the more we can do to encourage them to visit Sydney and NSW the better,” she says.The new A380 service is the result of several scheduling changes designed to unlock more flying time of the Qantas fleet, as part of the wider Qantas Transformation programme. Qantas will operate the new A380 service six times per week (every day except Tuesdays). QF7 will depart Sydney at 1310 and arrive at DFW International Airport at 1345 local time (the same day).The return service QF8, will depart DFW at 2215 local time and arrive in Sydney at 0605 two days later (due to an evening departure and the international dateline). Flying time from Sydney to DFW is around 14 hours 50 minutes, and flying time from DFW to Sydney is around 15 hours 30 minutes.