Qantas has filed preliminary flight schedules showing its soon-to-arrive Boeing 787-9 will operate domestic services from Melbourne to Perth and Sydney prior to commencing long-haul services to Los Angeles.
The airline is due to take delivery of its first 787-9 in the middle of October, with an exact delivery date yet to be officially confirmed.
While nonstop Melbourne-Los Angeles flights with the 787-9 are due to take off from December 15, preliminary filings with global distribution systems (GDS) showed Qantas planned to operate regular public transport (RPT) domestic flights from November 6.
The Airlineroute website reports the Qantas 787-9 schedule comprises six flights a week between Melbourne and Perth and six flights a week on the Melbourne-Sydney route from November 6 to December 14.
A Qantas spokesperson confirmed to Australian Aviation that the preliminary filings had been entered into the GDS. However, the spokesperson stressed the schedule was only preliminary and subject to change pending confirmation of the final delivery date and associated preparations for the entry into service of the new aircraft type.
Further, Qantas will communicate with the travelling public how to book those domestic 787-9 flights once the schedule is officially locked in.
The airline currently has eight 787-9s on order, with 11 787-8s already in service with subsidiary Jetstar.
They will feature a premium-heavy 236-seat interior: 42 seats in business class (in a 1-2-1 configuration), 28 in premium economy (at 2-3-2 abreast) and 166 in economy (at nine abreast), but it is expected that the 787-9 domestic services would be sold as a two-class (business and economy) flight.
The first Qantas 787-9, to be registered VH-ZNA, recently rolled off the final assembly line at Boeing’s Everett facility.
