Already buried deep in the UA megathread, I think this is big enough to deserve its own. United's new route announcement has been leaked. Looks to be SFO-BNE, beginning 28 October, 3x weekly 787-9.

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/united-airlines-brisbane-san-francisco-flights

As some have pointed out, this opens up the ability to fly from Brisbane, QLD to Brisbane, CA nonstop.

These are the route announcements I’ve missed so much over the past few years. Good luck UA!

I don't recall, did QANTAS actually begin SFO-BNE a few times weekly prior to the (ongoing) COVID suspension or was it just SYD/MEL? I recall plans to launch BNE on the days MEL wasn't served but I can't remember if these flights had started, in which case UA will beat them to the punch.

QF did a few different routings to SFO over the years, where they have suspended service at least 4 or 5 times now, did any route via BNE? Of course not non-stop, but I am wondering if a SYD-BNE-HNL-SFO flight was launched or something. I seem to recall during the brief Qantas 767 service to SFO in the early 1990s that BNE was part of the routing.

Somewhat surprising to me that they are launching it from SFO rather than LAX, which has been UA's historical Australian gateway.

I understand that they are going after connections, but it's my understanding that outside of LAX, US/Australia demand tapers off significantly.

Great news - and not unexpected! Well done to UA and VA. UA have a great Aussie network that will only get stronger with the VA partnership! Would a UA 789 be able to fly IAH-MEL? Or too far?

Chasensfo wrote:

I don't recall, did QANTAS actually begin SFO-BNE a few times weekly prior to the (ongoing) COVID suspension or was it just SYD/MEL? I recall plans to launch BNE on the days MEL wasn't served but I can't remember if these flights had started, in which case UA will beat them to the punch.

QF did a few different routings to SFO over the years, where they have suspended service at least 4 or 5 times now, did any route via BNE? Of course not non-stop, but I am wondering if a SYD-BNE-HNL-SFO flight was launched or something. I seem to recall during the brief Qantas 767 service to SFO in the early 1990s that BNE was part of the routing.

I believe QF did have BNE-SFO on a 790 for a while. ORD was the one they were weeks away from launching before COVID.

USAirALB wrote:

Somewhat surprising to me that they are launching it from SFO rather than LAX, which has been UA's historical Australian gateway.

I understand that they are going after connections, but it's my understanding that outside of LAX, US/Australia demand tapers off significantly.

Per the press release the new flights are partially funded by the Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC), a private company and the Queensland Government.

Saying that QF has multiple dailies on the BNE-LAX route in absence of SFO and ORD, and QF may want to maintain the multiple dailies in light of the UA/BAC/QG announcement.

Great news for QLD. Hopefully this gives Qantas some stiff competition on the monopoly they have on direct routes to mainland USA.

Pricing is out of control on AU-US flights including off peak periods.

All said and done, Australian's aren't use to asking price for SFO hotels to make it an appeal destination in it's own entity.

USAirALB wrote:

Somewhat surprising to me that they are launching it from SFO rather than LAX, which has been UA's historical Australian gateway.

I understand that they are going after connections, but it's my understanding that outside of LAX, US/Australia demand tapers off significantly.

San Francisco is where United has the feed and a very profitable O&D traffic hub. Why be another airline that flies from LAX to Brisbane when the low hanging fruit for United is at SFO?

Would a UA 789 be able to fly IAH-MEL? Or too far? The answer is yes it can make it for IAH-MEL with 789 and PER-LHR is more farther than IAH-MEL.

aircountry wrote:

Would a UA 789 be able to fly IAH-MEL? Or too far? The answer is yes it can make it for IAH-MEL with 789 and PER-LHR is more farther than IAH-MEL.

QF will be doing MEL-DFW, but I’m not sure if UA’s configuration can do MEL-IAH?

kriskim wrote:

aircountry wrote:

Would a UA 789 be able to fly IAH-MEL? Or too far? The answer is yes it can make it for IAH-MEL with 789 and PER-LHR is more farther than IAH-MEL.

QF will be doing MEL-DFW, but I’m not sure if UA’s configuration can do MEL-IAH?

UA's 789 refurbished config is premium heavy similar to QF but carries 10 more passengers in Y.

It may just make MEL-IAH but will likely require a fuel stop on the IAH-MEL leg.

Have any US carriers scheduled flights to BNE before?

Goodbye wrote:

Have any US carriers scheduled flights to BNE before?

HA flew to BNE for almost 8 years before corona hit. Assume will come back sooner or later on A332's, were starting to do decent

Goodbye wrote:

Have any US carriers scheduled flights to BNE before?

Apart from the mentioned short lived legacy CO and legacy UA services, HA previously had scheduled BNE-HNL services pre-Covid shutdowns.

HA had announced they won't be returning to BNE and MEL for the foreseeable future as they concentrate only on SYD for the mean time.

Goodbye wrote:

Have any US carriers scheduled flights to BNE before?

Whilst not BNE - there was the random CO/UA GUM-CNS. Not BNE but it is QLD ! Haha

oskarclare wrote:

Goodbye wrote:

Have any US carriers scheduled flights to BNE before?

HA flew to BNE for almost 8 years before corona hit. Assume will come back sooner or later on A332's, were starting to do decent

Continental Airlines flew HNL-BNE-CNS with a DC-10, they also flew Guam-CNS-BNE also with a DC-10.

http://www.departedflights.com/COsummer1992.html

http://www.departedflights.com/HNLI89p1.html

Wow, good news for BNE travellers.

If I'm not mistaken, then by December with this addition along with AC coming back and QF increasing LAX, Brisbane to North America frequencies will suddenly be close to pre-pandemic levels: 24 weekly flights in Feb 2020 vs 19 weekly in Dec 2022.

Feb 2020:
BNE-LAX 14 (QF, VA)
BNE-SFO 3 (QF)
BNE-YVR 7 (AC)

Dec 2022:
BNE-LAX 11 (QF)
BNE-SFO 3 (UA)
BNE-YVR 5 (AC)

This was a route that seemed to be on the radar for quite a while, so it was bound to happen at one point.

I'm just wondering what was the purpose of Guam-Cairns? UA did end the route many years ago, but the market it served is something I don't know.

did UA fly to BNE before? sometime in the 90s? not sure was it a tag?

3D101CA wrote:

This was a route that seemed to be on the radar for quite a while, so it was bound to happen at one point.

I'm just wondering what was the purpose of Guam-Cairns? UA did end the route many years ago, but the market it served is something I don't know.

Japanese tour market.

I still remember the CO day where CO Air Mike flew GUM-CNS (Cairns, Australia, Great Barrier Reef), GUM-DPS (Bali, Indonesia). This was before the rise of Asian airlines giving cheap airfare competition.

bostonvancouver wrote:

did UA fly to BNE before? sometime in the 90s? not sure was it a tag?

Yes via SYD 3x weekly on a 744, lasted a year from memory.

bostonvancouver wrote:

did UA fly to BNE before? sometime in the 90s? not sure was it a tag?

Yes I believe it was a tag off of one of the SYD flights at one point. I don’t know that it lasted that long—maybe a year or so

x1234 wrote:

I still remember the CO day where CO Air Mike flew GUM-CNS (Cairns, Australia, Great Barrier Reef), GUM-DPS (Bali, Indonesia). This was before the rise of Asian airlines giving cheap airfare competition.

Also:

Cebu, Nouméa, Nadi, Port Moresby, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Seoul, Naha Okinawa.

Also Air Mike had their cargo operation with DHL.

oskarclare wrote:

Goodbye wrote:

Have any US carriers scheduled flights to BNE before?

HA flew to BNE for almost 8 years before corona hit. Assume will come back sooner or later on A332's, were starting to do decent

Oh yeah of course I forgot about HA!

x1234 wrote:

I still remember the CO day where CO Air Mike flew GUM-CNS (Cairns, Australia, Great Barrier Reef), GUM-DPS (Bali, Indonesia). This was before the rise of Asian airlines giving cheap airfare competition.

Slightly off topic, but didn't Australian Airlines have a lot of traffic from Cairns to Japanese cities? Mostly tourists?

As for BNE-SFO, will this be timed like other departures (late morning dep)?

codc10 wrote:

3D101CA wrote:

This was a route that seemed to be on the radar for quite a while, so it was bound to happen at one point.

I'm just wondering what was the purpose of Guam-Cairns? UA did end the route many years ago, but the market it served is something I don't know.

Japanese tour market.

Supposedly military traffic as well

There's also been speculation of CNS-GUM-HND on existing VA 738s in co-operation with UA in an attempt to hold onto the HND slot as well.

edmountain wrote:

Wow, good news for BNE travellers.

If I'm not mistaken, then by December with this addition along with AC coming back and QF increasing LAX, Brisbane to North America frequencies will suddenly be close to pre-pandemic levels: 24 weekly flights in Feb 2020 vs 19 weekly in Dec 2022.

Feb 2020:
BNE-LAX 14 (QF, VA)
BNE-SFO 3 (QF)
BNE-YVR 7 (AC)

Dec 2022:
BNE-LAX 11 (QF)
BNE-SFO 3 (UA)
BNE-YVR 5 (AC)

Frequency maybe back but capacity is down - VA was a 77W, wasn’t AC a 789 now a 788?

QF didn’t have SFO going long, and LAX wasn’t a 780 for long either, when did they convert it from a 744?

smi0006 wrote:

edmountain wrote:

Wow, good news for BNE travellers.

If I'm not mistaken, then by December with this addition along with AC coming back and QF increasing LAX, Brisbane to North America frequencies will suddenly be close to pre-pandemic levels: 24 weekly flights in Feb 2020 vs 19 weekly in Dec 2022.

Feb 2020:
BNE-LAX 14 (QF, VA)
BNE-SFO 3 (QF)
BNE-YVR 7 (AC)

Dec 2022:
BNE-LAX 11 (QF)
BNE-SFO 3 (UA)
BNE-YVR 5 (AC)

Frequency maybe back but capacity is down - VA was a 77W, wasn’t AC a 789 now a 788?

QF didn’t have SFO going long, and LAX wasn’t a 780 for long either, when did they convert it from a 744?

LAX has been a 789 for at least 18 months out of BNE pre-pandemic. It ws converted to a 789 around late 2018 or thereabouts. The last QF 747 retired in early 2020.

3 of the 789s formed 10x weekly BNE-LAX with the 4th aircraft used on BNE-HKG-SYD-HKG-BNE turns during that period, before the 4th aircraft was used on the short lived QF BNE-SFO service.

AC is currently a 789 for the foreseeable future as they scaled back their initial plans to ramp up to daily 788 by NW, instead filing x5 weekly 789.

smi0006 wrote:

edmountain wrote:

Wow, good news for BNE travellers.

If I'm not mistaken, then by December with this addition along with AC coming back and QF increasing LAX, Brisbane to North America frequencies will suddenly be close to pre-pandemic levels: 24 weekly flights in Feb 2020 vs 19 weekly in Dec 2022.

Feb 2020:
BNE-LAX 14 (QF, VA)
BNE-SFO 3 (QF)
BNE-YVR 7 (AC)

Dec 2022:
BNE-LAX 11 (QF)
BNE-SFO 3 (UA)
BNE-YVR 5 (AC)

Frequency maybe back but capacity is down - VA was a 77W, wasn’t AC a 789 now a 788?

QF didn’t have SFO going long, and LAX wasn’t a 780 for long either, when did they convert it from a 744?

Pretty sure AC was a 788. Now it is (or will be) a 789.

The Qantas change to 787 was in September 2018. The SFO start date didn't affect capacity because those flights were just shifted from LAX.

Either way, it's still good to see frequency returning so quickly.

Won't Qantas restart BNE (and MEL)-SFO in October as well?

Cant see QF resuming BNE-SFO for a while and may likely be deferred (again) since there's now direct 'assisted' competition on the route to begin in October.
My tip is BNE will eventually build up for QF to double daily BNE-LAX in absence of the ORD flights and the 789s.

I suspect QF's MEL-SFO will come online (towards the end of 2022 at the earliest) once Boeing releases the backlog of 787s yet to be delivered (including QF's 3x 789s).

SCFlyer wrote:

kriskim wrote:

aircountry wrote:

Would a UA 789 be able to fly IAH-MEL? Or too far? The answer is yes it can make it for IAH-MEL with 789 and PER-LHR is more farther than IAH-MEL.

QF will be doing MEL-DFW, but I’m not sure if UA’s configuration can do MEL-IAH?

UA's 789 refurbished config is premium heavy similar to QF but carries 10 more passengers in Y.

It may just make MEL-IAH but will likely require a fuel stop on the IAH-MEL leg.

PER-LHR is more farther than IAH-MEL and dont need a fuel stop, see this
IAH MEL 244° (SW) 242° (SW) 8,999 mi
PER LHR 313° (NW) 314° (NW) 9,009 mi

One thing is I dont know why UA is not doing to add IAH-MEL after made announcement JV with VA to put a direct from IAH to MEL and thats how QF saw the news and quickly to add MEL-DFW to steal IAH passengers to connect DFW to MEL will start this December. I want to see UA to add IAH-MEL in the future.

aircountry wrote:

One thing is I dont know why UA is not doing to add IAH-MEL after made announcement JV with VA to put a direct from IAH to MEL and thats how QF saw the news and quickly to add MEL-DFW to steal IAH passengers to connect DFW to MEL will start this December. I want to see UA to add IAH-MEL in the future.

The UA/VA partnership is not a JV, it's just a simple codeshare and FF redemption partnership. It's unlikely this partnership will be upgraded to a JV (cost splitting and shared revenue) as the current VA owners has no intentions of returning to long haul widebody international themselves for the foreseeable future.

As for UA not operating IAH-MEL either the business case doesn't stand up on its own, and it does seem the Victorian Government is not interested to chase up the route themselves under their version of the AAIF. The BNE-SFO announcement is largely jointly attributed to the Queensland Government and BAC subsidies through the Qld AAIF as well as the VA partnership.

aircountry wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

kriskim wrote:

QF will be doing MEL-DFW, but I’m not sure if UA’s configuration can do MEL-IAH?

UA's 789 refurbished config is premium heavy similar to QF but carries 10 more passengers in Y.

It may just make MEL-IAH but will likely require a fuel stop on the IAH-MEL leg.

PER-LHR is more farther than IAH-MEL and dont need a fuel stop, see this
IAH MEL 244° (SW) 242° (SW) 8,999 mi
PER LHR 313° (NW) 314° (NW) 9,009 mi

One thing is I dont know why UA is not doing to add IAH-MEL after made announcement JV with VA to put a direct from IAH to MEL and thats how QF saw the news and quickly to add MEL-DFW to steal IAH passengers to connect DFW to MEL will start this December. I want to see UA to add IAH-MEL in the future.

Wind is a major issue in some of those longer pacific runs and UA 789s seat 20 more than QF’s, though UA did run LAX-SIN and do SFO-SIN.

Not sure where I would rate IAH-MEL, IAH-SYD hasn’t yet resumed and wasn’t stellar pre Covid so they will want to see how that goes. Also LAX-MEL doesn’t resume until October either. I’m not sure QF added MEL-DFW in response to UA but more to diversify the market, weather the A380 returns to SYD-DFW or not remains to be seen.

ZK-NBT wrote:

aircountry wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

UA's 789 refurbished config is premium heavy similar to QF but carries 10 more passengers in Y.

It may just make MEL-IAH but will likely require a fuel stop on the IAH-MEL leg.

PER-LHR is more farther than IAH-MEL and dont need a fuel stop, see this
IAH MEL 244° (SW) 242° (SW) 8,999 mi
PER LHR 313° (NW) 314° (NW) 9,009 mi

One thing is I dont know why UA is not doing to add IAH-MEL after made announcement JV with VA to put a direct from IAH to MEL and thats how QF saw the news and quickly to add MEL-DFW to steal IAH passengers to connect DFW to MEL will start this December. I want to see UA to add IAH-MEL in the future.

Wind is a major issue in some of those longer pacific runs and UA 789s seat 20 more than QF’s, though UA did run LAX-SIN and do SFO-SIN.

Not sure where I would rate IAH-MEL, IAH-SYD hasn’t yet resumed and wasn’t stellar pre Covid so they will want to see how that goes. Also LAX-MEL doesn’t resume until October either. I’m not sure QF added MEL-DFW in response to UA but more to diversify the market, weather the A380 returns to SYD-DFW or not remains to be seen.

I also can’t see UA launching MEL-IAH anytime soon. It’s a long, thin route that would be even more challenging now with QF launching MEL-DFW.

UA have been in no rush to restart SYD-IAH, and looks like it is refocusing it’s network post-Covid with MEL-SFO restarting prior to MEL-LAX, and now announcing BNE-SFO.

I certainly wouldn’t rule out more IAH flights in the future, but not sure I see any movement on that one for a while.

Not sure what you're talking about. United resumes Houston - Sydney on October 28, 2022.

IndianicWorld wrote:

ZK-NBT wrote:

aircountry wrote:

PER-LHR is more farther than IAH-MEL and dont need a fuel stop, see this
IAH MEL 244° (SW) 242° (SW) 8,999 mi
PER LHR 313° (NW) 314° (NW) 9,009 mi

One thing is I dont know why UA is not doing to add IAH-MEL after made announcement JV with VA to put a direct from IAH to MEL and thats how QF saw the news and quickly to add MEL-DFW to steal IAH passengers to connect DFW to MEL will start this December. I want to see UA to add IAH-MEL in the future.

Wind is a major issue in some of those longer pacific runs and UA 789s seat 20 more than QF’s, though UA did run LAX-SIN and do SFO-SIN.

Not sure where I would rate IAH-MEL, IAH-SYD hasn’t yet resumed and wasn’t stellar pre Covid so they will want to see how that goes. Also LAX-MEL doesn’t resume until October either. I’m not sure QF added MEL-DFW in response to UA but more to diversify the market, weather the A380 returns to SYD-DFW or not remains to be seen.

I also can’t see UA launching MEL-IAH anytime soon. It’s a long, thin route that would be even more challenging now with QF launching MEL-DFW.

UA have been in no rush to restart SYD-IAH, and looks like it is refocusing it’s network post-Covid with MEL-SFO restarting prior to MEL-LAX, and now announcing BNE-SFO.

I certainly wouldn’t rule out more IAH flights in the future, but not sure I see any movement on that one for a while.

jasoncrh wrote:

Not sure what you're talking about. United resumes Houston - Sydney on October 28, 2022.

IndianicWorld wrote:

ZK-NBT wrote:

Wind is a major issue in some of those longer pacific runs and UA 789s seat 20 more than QF’s, though UA did run LAX-SIN and do SFO-SIN.

Not sure where I would rate IAH-MEL, IAH-SYD hasn’t yet resumed and wasn’t stellar pre Covid so they will want to see how that goes. Also LAX-MEL doesn’t resume until October either. I’m not sure QF added MEL-DFW in response to UA but more to diversify the market, weather the A380 returns to SYD-DFW or not remains to be seen.

I also can’t see UA launching MEL-IAH anytime soon. It’s a long, thin route that would be even more challenging now with QF launching MEL-DFW.

UA have been in no rush to restart SYD-IAH, and looks like it is refocusing it’s network post-Covid with MEL-SFO restarting prior to MEL-LAX, and now announcing BNE-SFO.

I certainly wouldn’t rule out more IAH flights in the future, but not sure I see any movement on that one for a while.

My comment Compared their launch of SYD-LAX and SYD-SFO first, along with MEL-SFO. In that regard, there was no rush to restart based on waiting until October to restart. This is the same as MEL-LAX, which saw MEL-SFO come online first.
.

x1234 wrote:

I still remember the CO day where CO Air Mike flew GUM-CNS (Cairns, Australia, Great Barrier Reef), GUM-DPS (Bali, Indonesia). This was before the rise of Asian airlines giving cheap airfare competition.

I mourned the loss of CNS but it was always a strange route - geared toward the Japanese market but the 6 times I flew this route there weren’t many Japanese onboard - mostly a mix of Americans and some Micronesians as this was the fastest way to get to the South Pacific. Never full but still, I thought it worked because it was around for ages. So was DPS which was even operated via ROR post DC10 and pre-737. NOU was short-lived, maybe a year - so was NAN (which surprised me but CO hardly did any marketing).