Australian national flag carrier Qantas announced on Monday that it was nearly doubling passenger capacity on its Sydney-Johannesburg route, by introducing the Airbus A380 Superjumbo on to the route. It further announced that it had established a codeshare partnership with South African regional and domestic carrier Airlink.

Qantas has never before operated the A380 to and from South Africa. The introduction of the type on the route meant that the option of First Class tickets had been reintroduced for the Johannesburg-Sydney service; it had not been available since 2018. (Qantas A380 First Class is organised as 14 “individual suites” organised in a 1-1-1 configuration.) Use of the A380 will also see the number of Premium Economy Class seats on the route increase by more than 100%. (Qantas A380s are configured to carry a total of 485 passengers.)

“We are seeing strong demand for our Sydney services and, by upgrading to the Superjumbo, we will nearly double capacity during the peak periods, adding over 130 000 seats per year between the continents,” highlighted Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace. “This extra capacity will significantly expand the options for Qantas customers heading to Australia, strengthening the connections between family and friends, business and trade as well as give a big boost to the South African tourism industry.”

The A380 is already operating the route. The Superjumbo service will be run up to six times a week. The flights are timed to connect with Qantas’ services to and from New Zealand.

The codeshare agreement with Airlink meant that the QF code was added to Airlink’s domestic South African network, allowing travellers arriving from Australia to seamlessly connect with Airlink flights to other destinations in South Africa. Qantas hopes, once regulatory approval is obtained, to add Airlink regional destinations to its network, as well.

The first Qantas aircraft to fly to South Africa landed in Johannesburg in April 1948 (an Avro Lancastrian, on a route survey flight). Scheduled passenger services started in September 1952, operated by Lockheed L-749A Constellations. Because of the necessary refuelling stops, the trip took 66 hours. With the A380, the Sydney-Johannesburg flight will take 14 hours and 40 minutes, and the return flight, 11 hours and 55 minutes.

“Qantas has a rich history of flying between South Africa and Australia over the past 72 years, having operated Constellations and Super Constellations, [Lockheed] Electras, [Boeing] 707s, 747s, [787] Dreamliners and now the A380,” he recounted. “The A380 is a favourite among our frequent flyers and it will be great to see the Flying Kangaroo in the land of the Springbok.”

Qantas hopes to relaunch Perth-Johannesburg flights during the middle of next year.

The other routes on which Qantas operates its A380s are to London, Los Angeles and Singapore.