Speculation is rife Qantas may make a return to the Darwin to Singapore route next year according to the Aeroroutes website which maintains a watchful eye on future airline schedules. According to the website the airline is planning to compete directly with the only other operator on the route Singapore Airlines with a daily light commencing on June 23 2023 and will be operated by Alliance Airlines Embraer 190 regional jets. Jetstar Asia who are partly owned by the Qantas group had previously operated on the route with Airbus A320 aircraft however ended their involvement in August 2022.
The proposed route QF 353 which would be subject to government approaval is said to be depart Darwin at 6.20pm before arrving into Singapore at 9.40pm that evening whilst the inbound flight QF 354 will be wheels up out of Chnagi at 10.40pm before landing into Darwin at 5am early the next morning.
The route if successfully gets off the ground will interesting not be operated by a Boeing 737 that would typically be associated with many of Qantas’s short haul international destinations but by a QantasLink /Alliance Airlines operated Embraer 190 which has just 97 seats in a two class configuration.
The route would be amongst the longest scheduled Embraer 190 flights in the world covering some journey of nearly 2100 miles or 3,300km When Qantas previously serviced the route between 2005 and 2007 in start contrast it operated much larger Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. Qantas only operate one other international route with the Embraer 190 which is also its shortest on the quick 725km hop between Darwin and Dili in East Timor.
AussieJetSetter will be sure to report on any further developments as Qantas confirm their intention for this route going ahead.
