The news that Qantas will add direct capacity between Auckland and Perth from Dec has been welcomed by the Kiwi trade — as has the news of new PER-Johannesburg flights from the end of the year.
However, there’s one comment from the carrier around the announcement that has piqued the interest of aviation observers—and that’s a reference to ‘developing an eastern hub in Auckland, enabling one-stop oneworld journeys from destinations including Los Angeles and Dallas through Auckland to Perth’. QF is currently spending millions of dollars upgrading its AKL lounge, which can be utilised by passengers stopping off in AKL enroute to New York. “It’s not really a stretch to wonder what strategic plans QF has for services via Auckland,” says one industry insider. “Routing its North American services, like NYC, via Auckland opens up more opportunities for the carrier. With Air New Zealand coming off the Chicago route, that could be an ideal opportunity for QF via Auckland.” The QF group has ramped up is New Zealand presence across the QF and Jetstar brands.
