The abolition of border restrictions in Australia from March means an increase in the number of routes offered by Gulf airlines. They are generally those that capitalise most on air traffic between Europe and the island-continent.
The Airbus A380 is the war machine ofEmirates to boost its offering in Australia. The airline has just reopened its Dubai-Melbourne route on board its giant aircraft. It has also announced the introduction of a second daily A380 flight to Sydney on 2 March. It also confirms the relaunch, still with A380, of its daily flight to Perth on 17 June. And his return to Brisbane on 1 July.
Etihad Airways has also just announced that it will be increasing the number of its frequencies fromAbu Dhabi to Melbourne and Sydney from 10 to 14 per week from 22 March. There will be one daily flight to each of these cities. The flights will be operated by Boeing 787s in economy and business class configurations. However, the airline no longer intends to return to Brisbane, a route which was discontinued in 2020 and which it considers unprofitable.
Qatar Airways already offers daily flights to both Melbourne and Sydney. The carrier is also the only one to link the town ofAdelaide, capital of the state of South Australia. The carrier also plans to resume flights on Perth on 27 March. But everything depends on the lifting of restrictions in Western Australia. From 1 March, the carrier will operate a daily service to Brisbane. in a Boeing 777.
However, the carrier is less enthusiastic about resuming its second daily frequency to Sydney. This is because, the Australian government wants this second flight to be extended to the federal capital Canberra. An obligation that Qatar Airways considers too costly in terms of operations.
Gulf Air had also announced its intention to relaunch flights between Bahrain and Sydney. Unfortunately, the Covid crisis put these plans on hold. The resumption of traffic could update the Bahraini carrier's strategy.
Australian Qantas announces that it is postponing its London-Sydney flight via Singapore to next June. However, the airline will continue to operate its flight between the two cities via Darwin, believing that the PCR testing requirements in Singapore for transit passengers are too complex...
