A new deal forged between Qantas and Perth Airport will pave the way for the reinstatement of the Australian airline’s Perth to Johannesburg flights as early as mid-2025.
Qantas and Perth Airport announced a landmark commercial agreement on Friday May 31. Qantas says it will stimulate a multi-billion-dollar surge in investments, introducing new international and domestic flights to significantly boost Australia’s tourism sector.
For South Africans living in Western Australia and friends and family wanting to visit them, the good news just rolls on and on. SAA started direct flights from Johannesburg to Perth on April 28 and Qantas says it will fly the same route mid-2025.
That’s because the airport will now enhance Terminals 3 and 4, where Qantas currently operates, increasing capacity until the new facilities are ready in 2031. This will allow Qantas to introduce new routes from Perth, including flights to Auckland and Johannesburg, pending approval from border agencies.
These upgrades will also accommodate ultra-long-haul flights, including the Project Sunrise Airbus A350-1000s, which are expected to begin service in 2026.
The deal resulted from the resolution of a longstanding dispute over airport fees, international flight routes and terminal facilities. Perth has two international airport terminals: one for Qantas’s international flights next to Qantas’s domestic operations, and another terminal known as Airport Central on the other side of the runway (a 20-minute drive by car or bus), which is used by every other airline that flies overseas. Qantas has previously given as the reason for its suspension of the Perth direct flights to Jakarta and Johannesburg the lack of space at the terminals and a lack of border facilities.
In what will be Perth’s largest-ever private infrastructure project, the plan includes two multi-storey car parks, major roadworks, and the city’s first ever airport hotel.
Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson hailed the agreement. “It will enable us to create a world-class western hub and significantly expand our domestic and international services over the short, medium and long term. Not only will it allow us to bring hundreds of thousands more travellers to and through Western Australia each year, it will also make it easier for overseas tourists to connect to more destinations across Australia.”
A component of the new deal is agreement between the two parties on the timeline of the new parallel runway, scheduled to open in 2028.
