Qantas Expands European Flights with More Seats and New Routes

Airline shifts focus to southern gateways and Asian stopovers to avoid Middle East hubs

Apr. 11, 2026 at 10:14am

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A bold, geometric illustration in the Art Deco style, featuring sweeping gradients of blues and grays, towering forced perspectives of aircraft and airport terminals, and sleek, streamlined forms, conceptually representing the grand scale and romance of international air travel.Qantas' strategic network changes to Europe signal the airline's commitment to meeting evolving traveler preferences and providing a more efficient, flexible, and comfortable long-haul experience.Los Angeles Today

Qantas is making significant changes to its long-haul network to Europe, adding up to 1,400 extra seats per week and reworking its routings to provide more flexibility and convenience for travelers. The airline is temporarily adjusting its Sydney-Perth-Paris route to go through Singapore, increasing capacity on the Perth-Singapore leg, and adding daily flights from Perth to London and Rome.

Why it matters

Qantas' strategic moves reflect a broader travel trend towards avoiding Middle East transit hubs due to ongoing instability in the region. By leaning into routes via southern gateways like Singapore and non-stop options from Perth, the airline is catering to this shift in traveler preferences and enhancing the overall travel experience.

The details

Qantas is reshuffling its fleet, moving Boeing 787 Dreamliners from US routes to European routes and shifting Airbus A330 aircraft from domestic to international flights. This allows for more efficient utilization of the fleet and enables the airline to better serve its European destinations. The changes include increasing the frequency of the Perth-Rome route from four weekly flights to daily, as well as maintaining the existing Perth-London schedule via Singapore.

  • From mid-April to late July 2026, Qantas will introduce the changes.
  • The Sydney-Perth-Paris route will temporarily become a Sydney-Singapore-Paris service starting in mid-April.
  • Qantas will increase the frequency of Perth-Singapore flights from daily to ten times a week to support the new Sydney-Singapore-Paris route.

The players

Qantas

An Australian airline that is making strategic changes to its long-haul network to Europe, including adding capacity, reworking routings, and shifting its fleet to better serve customer demand.

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What’s next

Qantas' European network changes are expected to remain in place through the peak summer travel season, with the airline closely monitoring demand and adjusting as needed.

The takeaway

Qantas' proactive measures to expand its European routes, increase capacity, and optimize its network reflect the airline's adaptability and commitment to enhancing the travel experience for its customers. These changes also highlight the broader industry trend of travelers seeking to avoid Middle East transit hubs in favor of southern gateways and Asian stopovers.