Daytime Flights from Asia to Australia

Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000.
Cathay Pacific offers daytime flights from Hong Kong to Sydney and Melbourne. Photo: Cathay Pacific.

If you often fly to or from Asia with Qantas, you’ve probably noticed that almost all of Qantas’ flights from Asia back to Australia operate overnight. The only exceptions are QF26 from Tokyo to Sydney and QF72 from Singapore to Perth (which arrives just after midnight). Technically the Dili-Darwin flight also counts, but that’s not a long-haul route.

As another option, you could consider flying via Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Qantas and Air Niugini offer daytime flights from Port Moresby to Brisbane, Sydney and Cairns.

In the other direction, most of Qantas’ outbound flights from Australia to Asia are day flights. The sole exception is QF25 from Sydney to Tokyo.

Qantas A330 at Beijing Capital Airport
Almost all of Qantas’ flights from Asia to Australia operate overnight. Photo: Matt Graham.

Most of Virgin Australia and Jetstar’s flights from Asia to Australia (except for a limited number of flights from Bali) are also redeye flights.

Qantas’ Asian schedules are perfect for people who prefer overnight flights back to Australia. But if you prefer daytime flights, there are other options from Asia to Australia that could be more convenient if you’re prepared to fly with different airlines.

This article lists all of the daytime flights currently available from Asia to Australia, sorted by Australian airport. For each route listed below, we’ve included the airline, flight number and schedule. Note that the schedules may vary slightly on different days of the week or during daylight savings.

Daytime flights from Asia to Adelaide

AirlineFlight NumberOriginDeparture TimeDestinationArrival Time
JetstarJQ126Denpasar11:15Adelaide17:30

Daytime flights from Asia to Brisbane

AirlineFlight NumberOriginDeparture TimeDestinationArrival Time
JetstarJQ58Denpasar13:00Brisbane20:35
Virgin AustraliaVA50Denpasar15:35Brisbane23:20
Singapore AirlinesSQ245Singapore09:55Brisbane19:30
Cathay PacificCX157Hong Kong13:10Brisbane23:35
EVA AirBR315Taipei09:10Brisbane20:00

Daytime flights from Asia to Cairns

AirlineFlight NumberOriginDeparture TimeDestinationArrival Time
Singapore AirlinesSQ203Singapore08:40Cairns17:00

Daytime flights from Asia to Darwin

AirlineFlight NumberOriginDeparture TimeDestinationArrival Time
Singapore AirlinesSQ251Singapore08:30Darwin14:45
AirnorthTL511Dili08:05Darwin09:55
QantasQF350Dili16:00Darwin17:50

Daytime flights from Asia to Melbourne

Note that Asiana’s Seoul-Melbourne route is seasonal.

AirlineFlight NumberOriginDeparture TimeDestinationArrival Time
JetstarJQ32Denpasar11:55Melbourne19:30
JetstarJQ44Denpasar14:55Melbourne22:30
Virgin AustraliaVA92Denpasar15:50Melbourne23:25
Singapore AirlinesSQ207Singapore07:50Melbourne17:10
EmiratesEK404Singapore10:25Melbourne19:35
Turkish AirlinesTK168Singapore10:15Melbourne19:40
Singapore AirlinesSQ217Singapore11:10Melbourne20:35
ScootTR24Singapore11:00Melbourne20:15
Malaysia AirlinesMH129Kuala Lumpur09:20Melbourne19:15
AirAsia XD7212Kuala Lumpur12:05Melbourne21:55
Vietjet AirVJ81Ho Chi Minh City11:20Melbourne22:35
Vietnam AirlinesVN779Hanoi09:45Melbourne22:15
Thai AirwaysTG461Bangkok08:10Melbourne20:00
Cathay PacificCX163Hong Kong11:15Melbourne22:15
China SouthernCZ343Guangzhou08:00Melbourne19:20
AsianaOZ603Seoul (Incheon)10:10Melbourne21:40

Daytime flights from Asia to Perth

Currently, all of the flights operating from Denpasar (Bali) to Perth are daytime (i.e. not redeye) flights. Jetstar, Batik Air and Indonesia AirAsia all have regular flights on this route, so we won’t list all of these flights here. The list below contains daytime flights on routes other than Denpasar-Perth.

Note that Tokyo-Perth is a seasonal route for All Nippon Airways (ANA), running from late October until March. Jetstar will launch its Singapore-Perth flights later in 2024.

AirlineFlight NumberOriginDeparture TimeDestinationArrival Time
Singapore AirlinesSQ213Singapore07:15Perth12:30
Singapore AirlinesSQ223Singapore09:30Perth14:40
ScootTR8Singapore12:00Perth17:00
ScootTR16Singapore15:30Perth20:35
Singapore AirlinesSQ215Singapore18:45Perth23:55
QantasQF72Singapore19:35Perth00:45 (next day)
JetstarJQ96Singapore06:55Perth12:20
JetstarJQ98Singapore14:15Perth19:40
Batik Air MalaysiaOD195Kuala Lumpur10:35Perth16:10
AirAsia XD7234Kuala Lumpur10:05Perth15:40
AirAsiaAK604Kuala Lumpur17:45Perth23:25
Malaysia AirlinesMH125Kuala Lumpur08:55Perth14:50
JetstarJQ72Phuket14:25Perth21:45
Thai AirwaysTG481Bangkok07:20Perth15:05
Vietnam AirlinesVN791Ho Chi Minh City15:50Perth23:05
Cathay PacificCX171Hong Kong15:00Perth22:35
ANANH881Tokyo (Narita)11:20Perth20:30

Daytime flights from Asia to Sydney

In addition to the flights listed below, Turkish Airlines will commence daytime Kuala Lumpur-Sydney flights in December 2024.

AirlineFlight NumberOriginDeparture TimeDestinationArrival Time
JetstarJQ40Denpasar11:55Sydney19:50
Singapore AirlinesSQ241Singapore07:15Sydney16:55
ScootTR12Singapore10:00Sydney19:45
Singapore AirlinesSQ211Singapore09:35Sydney19:15
Malaysia AirlinesMH141Kuala Lumpur09:10Sydney19:35
AirAsia XD7220Kuala Lumpur09:50Sydney20:00
Thai AirwaysTG475Bangkok08:30Sydney20:30
Cathay PacificCX139Hong Kong09:10Sydney20:10
AsianaOZ6013Seoul (Incheon)07:40Sydney20:15
China SouthernCZ301Guangzhou08:05Sydney19:40
QantasQF26Tokyo (Haneda)08:35Sydney19:25
ANANH889Tokyo (Haneda)08:35Sydney19:15
The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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Give me a daytime flight anytime. I have never been able to sleep much at all on 'redeye' flights. Plus, flights from Singapore etc. are too short to get a proper night's rest - especially if they insist on waking you 90 mins before arrival.

Reply 14 Likes

I’ve managed to snag QF72 as a reward flight with onward connection to SYD mid morning the following day for the same points as the nonstop redeyes. The o/n hotel room was orders of magnitude cheaper than paying for J.

I hadn’t realised there were so many JQ options. Must investigate that more.

I have found that those daytime flights on SQ and CX etc tend to be a little more $ than the overnight options…

Reply 2 Likes

I have found that those daytime flights on SQ and CX etc tend to be a little more $ than the overnight options…

Not sure about CX, but SQ daytime flights provide most of the connections from Europe to Australia. There are only 4 flights from Europe that connect with the overnight flights to Australia (LHR x 2, CDG, FRA) whilst there are 10-12 that connect with the daytime flights.

Reply 2 Likes

There's also Cebu Pacific's MNL-MEL daytime flight which starts next month.

Reply 2 Likes

Not sure about CX, but SQ daytime flights provide most of the connections from Europe to Australia. There are only 4 flights from Europe that connect with the overnight flights to Australia (LHR x 2, CDG, FRA) whilst there are 10-12 that connect with the daytime flights.

Yes, we are fortunate that Australia is very well served by SQ. Certainly better than our "national carrier."

Reply 3 Likes

I’m going to risk Jetstar for a SIN to MEL daytime trip this week.

Departure SIN at 06:55 on 3K243 connecting in DPS to JQ44 which arrives in MEL at 21:15.

It’s sold as one booking. I paid for business class which gets some perks included in the fare on the non business class 3K flight such as extra legroom seats, meals, checked luggage and a 14kg carry-on allowance.

How it will go and what the transit arrangement will be in DPS remains to be seen.

I did it to avoid an overnight flight and have a premium economy like day flight(s).

Reply 1 Like

There's also Cebu Pacific's MNL-MEL daytime flight which starts next month.

Have added this to the list.

Reply Like

Not sure about CX, but SQ daytime flights provide most of the connections from Europe to Australia. There are only 4 flights from Europe that connect with the overnight flights to Australia (LHR x 2, CDG, FRA) whilst there are 10-12 that connect with the daytime flights.

If you try and book Oz-SIN return, the return flights tend to be more expensive on the morning departures (day flights). Can be about $200 to $300 in whY.

I used to see it also in J when I was doing a bit of back and fourth. I know it sounds precious but even in J, the red eye back is kind of too short to properly sleep (obviously better than in whY), so I would try and do daytime flights both ways.

Reply 2 Likes

click to expand...

Seasonally, SQ has a daytime flight SIN ADL in addition to its regular morning arrivals in ADL.

Just don't ask me what the season is! I can never work it out.

Reply 1 Like

Seasonally, SQ has a daytime flight SIN ADL in addition to its regular morning arrivals in ADL.

Just don't ask me what the season is! I can never work it out.

That one seems to be for a couple of months over summer (December and January), I think.

Reply 1 Like