Qantas announces new flights to Pacific Island paradise in huge move

Qantas has added a new Pacific destination to its itinerary, with the the airline to begin direct flights to Palau.

The national carrier will be operating weekly flights from Brisbane to the paradise getaway made up of a cluster of over 300 islands, 1,500 kilometres east of the Philippines.

The six-hour flights are expected to go on sale in the ‘next few weeks’ before the first one takes off in the ‘coming months’.

Nauru Airlines had launched its own direct flights from Brisbane to Palau earlier this year.

The new route was one of many announcements made by the airline on Wednesday as it added and subtracted from its flight offerings. 

Qantas will dump its route between Sydney and Seoul from June 14 next year and instead its budget subsidiary Jetstar will increase the number of flights.

‘One of the benefits of our dual brand strategy is the flexibility we have with our combined Qantas and Jetstar fleets,’ Qantas Group international chief executive Cam Wallace said. 

‘Qantas launched flights to Seoul after the pandemic, and now that demand has normalised, it’s grown substantially as a leisure market, opening up a great opportunity for Jetstar to increase its frequencies and allow Qantas to redeploy its aircraft to other routes where we are seeing strong demand.’ 

Qantas will also offer 30 per cent more premium seats on its A380s flying to the US.

‘The A380 has always been a passenger favourite so it’s great news that Qantas are returning it to their Sydney to Dallas route, and the increased capacity will provide more choice for passengers travelling to and from the USA,’ Sydney Airport group executive Greg Botham said. 

Its Boeing 787 Dreamliners will fly from Brisbane to Los Angeles – allowing for more seat options for travellers. 

Qantas will also debut its 137-seat A220 aircraft in March 2025 as the airline phases out its Boeing 717s.

The planes will be used for flights between Darwin and Singapore.

The sweeping changes mean Qantas will be offering an additional 220,000 seats on its international network over 12 months from February.

‘These developments highlight our commitment to supporting airline growth and options for passengers at Australia’s global gateway,’ Mr Botham said.