New United BNE-SFO route from October 2022

[HS-TQE]

Breaking (see article at ET) As expected, UA in partnership with the Tourism Queensland / BAC / Queensland Government had announced 3x weekly BNE-SFO to begin from Late October. Aircraft will be on a 787-9.

 

[HS-TQE]

And of course Premier Annastacia has to go up there and announce the new UA flights herself on the local news.. "This is great for Tourism in Queensland and Great for Competition in Queensland!" (lol), although the upcoming UA flights are partially taxpayer subsidised through the AAIF agreement.

 

[Saab34]

How much are taxpayers handing over?

 

[Mattg]

There's no way Qantas will return to the BNE-SFO route now there's competition.

 

[AIRwin]

There's no way Qantas will return to the BNE-SFO route now there's competition.

ORD instead?

 

[mbell1510]

The Queensland government will no doubt be looking to spend more money going forward to secure further international routes. Can't have a global sporting event like the Olympics and bugger all foreign airlines serving the town.

 

[HS-TQE]

It'll also be up to Queenslanders to utilise those partial government subsidised services as well. We've seen what happened with the likes of AirAsiaX and Air China under the same subsidised arrangements when loads are either low or full of low yielding/sale fares.

 

[http_x92]

If it means a cheaper way to get to San Francisco going via Brisbane I am all for it

Now its potentially 6 UA flights a day from Australia to the US.

 

[Mattg]

If it means a cheaper way to get to San Francisco going via Brisbane I am all for it

Now its potentially 6 UA flights a day.

And potentially some decent award availability on some of those routes

 

[jrfsp]

If it means a cheaper way to get to San Francisco going via Brisbane I am all for it

Now its potentially 6 UA flights a day from Australia to the US.

With up to 6 daily flights they will be close to matching QF/AA although might be less seats.

 

[HS-TQE]

Queensland Government press release on their newly (partly) funded BNE-SFO flights in partnership with the Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC).

Brisbane lands direct flights from San Francisco

 

[HS-TQE]

With up to 6 daily flights they will be close to matching QF/AA although might be less seats.

With the 772s gradually coming back online at UA, and with European Summer Seasonal flights ending by October,the plane for BNE is expected to be largely sourced off those seasonal European flights, thus the x3 weekly.

Whether if the flights last past the NW season will depend on forward bookings/sales/yields etc and whether if the revenue is enough for the BNE to stand on its own eventually without the initial BAC/state government taxpayer support.

 

[featheast]

Can't find any place mention when the booking will start for the new BNE-SFO route, or I just missed it from the reports or discussions above?

 

[AFF Editor]

Can't find any place mention when the booking will start for the new BNE-SFO route, or I just missed it from the reports or discussions above?

Flights are on sale now, and services start on 28 October 2022. There doesn't appear to be any award availability released yet, though.

United Airlines Will Fly to Brisbane

United Airlines will fly from Brisbane to San Francisco from October, becoming the first airline to add new service between Australia and the United

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[BAM1748]

There's no way Qantas will return to the BNE-SFO route now there's competition.

I think they are starting SYD to SFO end of July.....but I get your point.

 

[BAM1748]

And of course Premier Annastacia has to go up there and announce the new UA flights herself on the local news.. "This is great for Tourism in Queensland and Great for Competition in Queensland!" (lol), although the upcoming UA flights are partially taxpayer subsidised through the AAIF agreement.

Not exactly sure you'd call them taxpayer subsidised as in the they don't cut a cheque to UA, the AAIF is for airports to discount or invest in new services/infrastructure that increase overnight stays or other tourist spend. Considering QLD is a tourism state I would expect them to spend money to make money, in this case up to $100M to kick start the $6B tourism economy.

All airline passengers and private aircraft owners get a subsidy of some sort during their trip, example below of Fed money to regional airports, money also went for international.

From Michael McCormack.
“We are investing $100 million over four years from 2019-20 to 2022-23 to help owners of regional airports right across Australia deliver safer runways, taxiways and other safety upgrades such as new fencing and safety equipment.”

Other approved projects include:

• $3.5 million for taxiway works at Port Macquarie, NSW
• $3.0 million to recontruct the runway at Scone, NSW
• $2.4 million for runway and taxiway works at Whyalla, SA
• $1.7 million for a range of work at Gladstone, QLD
• $1.6 million for re-surfacing works at Albany Airport, WA
• $1.5 million for a range of work at Mount Beauty, Vic
• $1.3 million for lighting and apron upgrades at Tamworth, NSW
• $1.2 million for a range of work at Armidale, NSW.

Smaller projects were also approved at airports such as Leongatha, Narromine, Quorn, Loxton, Tumut, Jurien Bay, Mount Gambier, Benambra and Geraldton.

 

[HS-TQE]

Not exactly sure you'd call them taxpayer subsidised as in the they don't cut a cheque to UA, the AAIF is for airports to discount or invest in new services/infrastructure that increase overnight stays or other tourist spend. Considering QLD is a tourism state I would expect them to spend money to make money, in this case up to $100M to kick start the $6B tourism economy.

All airline passengers and private aircraft owners get a subsidy of some sort during their trip, example below of Fed money to regional airports, money also went for international.

The AAIF as pointed out earlier is a 50/50 funding arrangement between Queensland's Airports and the Queensland Government, thus the 'partial subsidy' as there's no public knowledge/breakdown of how much of the $100mill contribution from the Queensland Government were directly from taxpayer funds.

I would assume like the other states AAIF (see QF's SYD-BLR flights for example that is funded under the NSW AAIF) this would include landing fees and the one-off station setup fees (eg opening a airline office at the airport) being covered under the AAIF for a certain contracted period.

 

[Mattg]

I think they are starting SYD to SFO end of July.....but I get your point.

SYD-SFO has been pushed back to late October. And that's just ex SYD - I can't see Qantas resuming direct BNE-SFO flights now in addition to the SYD-SFO service.

 

[HS-TQE]

Now loaded. Mid morning departure ex-BNE (connecting to the morning hub bank in SFO) and late evening departure from SFO.

Interesting to say it states that UA previously operated the x3 weekly SYD-BNE tag service between Aug 91 (sic) and January 1994. I'm assuming it's a typo and it was meant to say August 1993.

United Resumes Brisbane Service in late-October 2022 — AeroRoutes

Published at 1720GMT 08JUN22 United Airlines on Wednesday morning (08JUN22; US time zone) opened reservation for San Francisco – Brisbane route, scheduled to commence on 28OCT22. Subject to government approval, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to operate this route 3 times weekly. Following schedule is

aeroroutes.com

 

[BAM1748]

SYD-SFO has been pushed back to late October. And that's just ex SYD - I can't see Qantas resuming direct BNE-SFO flights now in addition to the SYD-SFO service.

Thanks, just checked and October 30 SYD to SFO.