Qantas confirmed today that flight QF93 on 24 October will be the carrier’s final Airbus A380 service between Melbourne and Los Angeles, ending an 18-year era of superjumbo operations on the trans-Pacific ‘Hollywood Route’. From 25 October a smaller Boeing 787-9 will take over daily duty, eliminating first-class seats and reducing capacity by almost 500 round-trip seats per day. The airline cites weaker economy-class demand ex-Australia and the efficiency of the twin-engine Dreamliner. Corporate travel buyers warn that premium-economy and business-class award availability will tighten, while freight forwarders may lose up to 20 tonnes of belly-hold capacity per flight. Mobility managers with high-volume Melbourne–US traffic are already shifting travellers via Sydney or Auckland to secure first-class products. Travel-management companies say average fares for the December quarter have jumped 9 per cent on the route since the schedule change was filed. For Qantas, the move frees an A380 to upgauge Sydney–Singapore frequencies ahead of the airline’s return to Singapore–London flights in 2027 under Project Sunrise. Analysts see the shuffle as another signal that ultra-long-range twin-jets are displacing four-engine giants in post-pandemic networks.
Source: AeroCorner
