Ultimate bragging rights acquired.
Melbourne has experienced another Qantas first as it secured something to brag about, the new Boeing Dreamliners of Qantas will fly from the Victorian capital.
This service, a non-stop Melbourne to Los Angeles trips, started last December 15 with operations of six times a week.
It was a heated competition between Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth for who will become the launch base for the ultra-longhaul Boeing 787s.
Melbourne bagged the prize after the “Visit Victoria” campaign was launched by the Victorian government and its tourism body, getting the attention of the airline service.
“We’ll be working with Visit Victoria on joint marketing campaigns to highlight what Victoria and the Qantas Dreamliner have to offer,” Qantas international chief Gareth Evans told The Australian Post.
Melbourne Airport revealed that it offered more enticements, but declined to give further details.
“We’re delighted by today’s Qantas announcement … (but) we can’t get into the details of our commercial arrangement,” said Melbourne Airport chief of aviation Simon Gandy to The Australian Post.
Qantas has already ordered eight 787-9 aircraft to replace the old 747 jumbo jets. The first four will be delivered in the 2017-18 financial year and the next batch in the year after.
Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan told The Australian Post that using the Dreamliners on the US route made sense. “International arrivals figures highlight the seemingly insatiable level of demand for Australia among American travellers. We welcomed just shy of 700,000 American visitors in the past 12 months,” he said.
“The 787 Dreamliner delivers an exceptional experience for long haul flyers and Qantas have been very shrewd in making sure they service this blue ribbon tourism corridor with the very best of their hard product.”
After Qantas launches its non-stop direct flights from Perth to London, which will start on March 2018, they will unveil the Melbourne route.
This new airline service that will have direct access to Los Angeles and, soon, to London will have a huge impact on Australia’s tourism and trade. Business brokers victoria will have more access to international trade and more customers from different races will have a chance to taste what Australia has to offer.
