Qantas MEL-JNB 26th May

[Oliver Gigacz]

Qantas is offering a one time direct service from Melbourne to Johannesburg on the 26th May.

Probably for the World Cup. But it seems a little early.

[Sarah C]

It is the flight the Socceroos are travelling on, and you can buy tickets in P, W and Y class on the same flight (qantas.com has details). It makes sense for them to travel that early.

[Andrew P]

ties in with the Qantas Socceroos vs New Zealand All Whites game at the MCG on 24th May

[Anthony T]

MEL-JNB, sounds like a good idea, I wonder why no other airline does this route before.

Oh wait.... V Australia starts this route tomorrow, March 13.

Once again QF follows, and then with only one flight.

The way QF international are going in MEL they may be relegated to the stand-off bay's by Melbourne Airport to make room for airlines that actually want to provide services from Melbourne.

Anthony T

[Justin L]

Fair go Anthony. QF are the naming sponsors of the Socceroos and with their last game in Australia before heading to South Africa in Melbourne, it makes perfect sense to just run a one-off flight to get them there direct. And if they can sell a few extra seats to regular pax, then good on them. Remember, they also flew the Socceroos from Montevideo to Sydney on a charter flight (not for regular pax though) in 2005 between qualifiers.

QF Group have tried several routes out of MEL that didn't last long. I can think of MEL-NRT, MEL-PVG and MEL-HNL(JQ) off the top of my head.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see more QF international flights out of MEL though.

[Michael Cleary]

QF actually did operate the MEL-JNB direct route for about 6 months or so a few years back, not long before the direct SYD-JNB flights started.