Australia’s national carrier Qantas has flown the superjumbo to Johannesburg for the first time, which is the airline’s only destination in Africa. Qantas will operate the Airbus A380 across the Indian Ocean six times per week from September 30.
The aircraft seats up to 485 passengers across four classes, including first, business, premium economy, and economy. That said, the A380 replaces the Boeing 787-9 which Qantas has used to serve the route since March 2021.
Flight time from Sydney to Johannesburg is 14 hours and 40 minutes while Johannesburg to Sydney comes in at 11 hours and 55 minutes. This Qantas service is actually the world’s only A380 flight that regularly crosses the southern Indian Ocean.
Adding Capacity to Africa
The deployment of the Airbus A380 on this route adds a significant number of seats between Sydney and Johannesburg. In fact, it almost doubles capacity on the route, adding an extra 130,000 seats between Australia and Africa every year.
