Qantas has said that it has only suspended scheduled Perth-Johannesburg flights while it works with Australian Border Force and other government departments on Customs and Biosecurity requirements. The flights were scheduled to launch on November 1.

Tourism Update’s sister publication Travel News asked Michi Messner, Qantas Regional Manager Africa, the reasons behind the suspension and if the airline still intended to operate the route. 

Messner responded saying the airline had only temporarily paused selling the Perth-Johannesburg flights and the Perth-Jakarta routes.

“There are no changes to existing customer bookings – it is planned that our flights will still operate,” said Messner, who did not give a new date for the launch. 

The announcement of the JNB-PER flights caused a hum of excitement in Perth, which has a large population of South African expats. These flights will be the only direct ones between Western Australia and South Africa. Western Australia is largely led by its mining economy and Perth is its capital. VFRs and mining business traffic on the route is sure to be a big driver. 

The Perth-Johannesburg flights will cut more than six hours from the fastest current travel time between the two cities. Travellers from Johannesburg heading for Perth currently have to fly on Qantas via Sydney and then backtrack to Perth, or go via the Middle Eastern hubs.  

The airline has said it will use an Airbus A330-300 on the PER-JNB route with up to 26 seats in business class and 224 in economy.    

The Perth flights are not linked to the Sydney flights. Both routes run completely separately and remain direct flights. The PER-JNB flights are slated for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with return flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Bookings have also been suspended on the Perth-Jakarta route, due to begin on November 31. 

Both routes are supported by the Western Australian Government’s Reconnect WA package. Qantas will work with Tourism Western Australia to boost inbound tourism from both South Africa and Indonesia into Perth and regional WA, and with the co-operation of Perth Airport.