The ‘roo returns

Zoomer | January 1st, 2006

Qantas Airways will launch once-daily flights, seven days a week from Canada to Australia, starting in July. Qantas will operate flights on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Vancouver, and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from Toronto.

Flights from both cities will stop in Honolulu enroute to Sydney, and the return flights will operate on the same days as the departures, using Boeing 767-300 aircraft on both legs. This marks the first time Qantas has operated services into Canada with their equipment since March of 1991, when the carrier flew into Vancouver. Since then, it has codeshared with Canadian Airlines on flights to Sydney, via Honolulu.

The airline has never flown out of Toronto. “It will be great to see the Qantas tail in Canada again,” says William Duplak, the Qantas manager for Canada, referring to the distinctive kangaroo graphic on the tail of Qantas aircraft.

Duplak says the flight schedule information is already loaded into computer reservations systems, with a service launch set for the first week of July. He also says the codeshare with Canadian will last until the new Qantas services start. A partnership with Air Canada is not curreny possible with the two airlines in opposing alliances — Qantas in One world (which Canadian Airlines has just quit) and Air Canada in the Star Alliance.

The new service is nicely timed for those who are planning to attend the 2000 Olympics. Call your CARPTravel rep for details.