Qantas much hyped and ambitious plans to make Perth it’s International western hub have been dealt a serious blow with its much touted Perth to Johannesburg service to be suspended next March whilst its Perth to Jakarta service has been scrapped completely at the last minute.
It comes after weeks of concern that the short term viability of the routes were in doubt as Qantas had already suspended further sales in the past week as it flagged operational reasons and ongoing negotiations with the Australian Border Force (ABF) and other government agencies in the hope they would be able to facilitate Qantas’s expanded international operations out of the otherwise domestic terminal 3/4 precinct.
As Qantas currently operate all there international flights such as its current flights to London, Rome and Singapore out of its own dedicated international wing of its exclusive Terminal 3 and 4 domestic precinct it would appear Qantas were not fully successful in securing the extra ABF and security staffing and resources that may well had needed to be diverted from the main international terminal to cater for these flights.
Under new arrangements negotiated between Qantas, Perth Airport and the ABF the Johannesburg service is not being scrapped entirely with the service to commence on November 1 as planned although future flights will be put on hold after March 25 next year with no current indication that it would likely continue.
The flight will operate under rather tricky arrangements however. From November 1 to January 15 the QF66 flight will land at Terminal 3 in Perth whereby customers with connecting domestic flights will be able to clear customs and immigration at the terminal. Customers finishing there journey in Perth will however be bused to the main international Terminal 1 to clear formalities there. With the road distance of 8km between the terminals it is not yet known if the passengers will be able to be bussed airside or will be up for an awkward journey transiting between terminals by road when they technically haven’t even be cleared by customs and immigration.
From January 16 to March 25 the service will entirely be moved to Perth’s main international terminal with passengers connecting to and from domestic flights bussed between the terminals. Whilst any solution to continue the flights is better than nothing unfortunately these changes will impact the streamline transfer prospects that Qantas had hoped these flights would add and passengers will need to factor even more time into their journey.
As Qantas currently does not have its own lounge at Terminal 1 due to its absence operating at the terminal, premium customers will also unlikely be able to enjoy a dedicated lounge with the airline likely to secure another arrangement with a partner lounge.
On the flip side Qantas is planning to increase its Perth- Singapore flight services from seven to ten weekly flights which will depart from Terminal 3 alongside the existing London service.
