The new four times weekly non-stop service, which was first announced in December 2017, will operate on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Flight schedules released by Qantas on Friday showed QF49 departing Melbourne in the evening and arriving in San Francisco at 1900 the same day.
Meanwhile, the reciprocal QF50 takes off from San Francisco at 2200 for an early morning arrival into Melbourne.
The flight times closely mirror the oneworld alliance member’s recently launched 787-9 Melbourne-Los Angeles nonstop service which kicked off in late December.
“We expect this flight to be popular with tourists and also corporate travellers looking to do business with San Francisco’s world-leading technology companies,” Qantas International chief executive Alison Webster said in a statement.
“With connections to 17 codeshare destinations including Chicago, Seattle, and Vancouver, the new service also provides another gateway for Australians travelling into the US.”
Ticket sales for the Melbourne-San Francisco flight began on Friday.
Qantas’s 787-9s features 236 seats comprising 42 in business class in a 1-2-1 configuration offering direct aisle access for every passenger, 28 in premium economy laid out 2-3-2 across and 166 in economy in a 3-3-3 layout with 32in seat pitch and 17.2in seat width.
The start of Melbourne-San Francisco flights from September 1 has also prompted a rebalancing of Qantas’s capacity between Melbourne and the United States.
Qantas said the six-times weekly QF95/96 Melbourne-Los Angeles flights with the 787-9 would be trimmed back to two flights a week once the new San Francisco service commenced.
The existing daily QF93/94 Airbus A380 Melbourne-Los Angeles service – a morning departure from Melbourne and an overnight flight from Los Angeles – is unchanged.
A summary of Qantas’s Boeing 787-9 schedule between Melbourne and Los Angeles/San Francisco from September 1 2018.
Flight Number/Routing |
Days of operation |
Time of departure |
Time of arrival |
|
QF49 Melbourne-San Francisco |
Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday |
21:40 |
19:00 |
|
QF50 San Francisco-Melbourne |
Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday |
22:00 |
06:30+2 |
|
QF95 Melbourne-Los Angeles |
Monday, Friday |
21:40 |
19:00 |
|
QF96 Los Angeles-Melbourne |
Tuesday, Friday |
23:55 |
08:25+2 |
