Qantas' 57 International Routes Analyzed

Qantas has international flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Darwin. Based on examining its full February to September schedule, it has international service to 32 airports worldwide. Its network sees flights to 23 countries in Australasia, Asia, North America, South America, Africa, and Europe. It has 57 international routes in this period, including Melbourne-Jakarta taking off in April and the brand-new Sydney-Auckland-New York JFK in June.

International: a summary

Between February and September, Qantas has an estimated 12,600 departing international flights (double for both ways), according to the latest Cirium data. Put another way, its domestic market is approximately 13 times bigger. With a fifth of Australia's international flights, Qantas is rather predictably the number one operator to/from the country.

Because Qantas' cross-Tasman and Oceania markets account for 47% of its international operation, the 737-800 is its most used type internationally, as shown below. Note that QantasLink had scheduled Darwin-Singapore by the Embraer 190, but it has been removed.

Aircraft	% of Qantas' international flights: Feb-Sep	International flights from (in order of departures)	Airports that see them
737-800	44.9%	Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane	Auckland, Christchurch, Denpasar-Bali, Nadi, Norfolk Island, Nouméa, Nukuʻalofa (Tonga), Port Moresby, Queenstown, Wellington
A330-200	18.0%	Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth	Apia, Auckland, Bangkok, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Manila, Singapore
787-9	14.8%	Sydney, Melbourne, Perth	Auckland, Dallas Fort Worth, Johannesburg, London Heathrow, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Rome, San Francisco, Santiago, Singapore, Vancouver
A330-300	14.7%	Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane	Apia, Auckland, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Jakarta (just four times), Manila, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo Haneda
A380	5.7%	Sydney	London Heathrow, Los Angeles, Singapore
E190	1.9%	Darwin	Dili

Photo: Ryan Fletcher I Shutterstock.

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Auckland is served the most

About 1 in 5 of Qantas' international departures are to Auckland, with New Zealand's largest city having twice as many services as Singapore, as shown below. However, the oneworld airline remains second to Air New Zealand in the market, although I've not included Qantas' lower-cost unit, Jetstar.

Auckland: 21.4% of Qantas' international flights
Singapore: 10.0%
Christchurch: 6.9%
Los Angeles: 5.9%
Wellington: 5.8%

Qantas has 5% more Auckland flights than in February-September 2019, examining OAG data reveals. However, while departures are up, seats are down (-6%). It is from using the 737-800 considerably more and the A330 far less. In 2019, the 737 had 61% of Auckland flights. Now it is 83%. No longer using the A330 from Melbourne and Brisbane to Auckland is mainly why, while Sydney's widebody flights have reduced significantly.

Qantas international network February to September 2023 — (February-September 2023 network.)

Image: GCMap.

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Routes with more than a daily flight

Fully predictably, the 1,345-mile (2,169 km) Sydney-Auckland link is Qantas' most-served international route. It typically has five daily departures, usually one by the A330. Routes with more than a daily service are shown below, with these nine responsible for about 40% of Qantas' international services.

Routing	% of Qantas' international flights: Feb-Sep	Typical departures	Find flights
Sydney-Auckland	9.9%	Five daily	Click here for Sydney-Auckland flights
Melbourne-Auckland	7.7%	Four daily	Click here for Melbourne-Auckland flights
Sydney-Singapore	3.8%	Double daily (one to Heathrow)	Click here for Sydney-Singapore flights
Brisbane-Auckland	3.8%	Double daily	Click here for Brisbane-Auckland flights
Sydney-Wellington	3.8%	Double daily	Click here for Sydney-Wellington flights
Sydney-Christchurch	3.2%	11 weekly to double daily	Click here for Sydney-Christchurch flights
Sydney-Queenstown	2.7%	10 weekly	Click here for Sydney-Queenstown flights
Melbourne-Singapore	2.4%	Daily to 10 weekly	Click here for Melbourne-Singapore flights
Sydney-Los Angeles	2.2%	8 weekly	Click here for Sydney-Los Angeles flights

Will you be flying Qantas internationally this year? If so, let us know where in the comment section.