Today represents a historic moment for Qantas as the Flying Kangaroo launches its first-ever A380 flight to Johannesburg. The launch marks the Aussie carrier’s debut of the Airbus superjumbo in Africa and signifies a major expansion of Qantas' presence in the continent.

Marking the first A380 flights across the Southern Indian Ocean, Qantas’ upgauged service will operate up to six times per week, nearly doubling capacity and offering an additional 130,000 seats between Australia and Africa annually. 

In addition to the A380 service, Qantas has announced plans to relaunch direct flights between Perth and Johannesburg in mid-2025. 

The dual service – Sydney-Johannesburg and Perth-Johannesburg – shows how Southern Africa, and in particular South Africa, could be featuring in the holiday plans of more and more Aussie travellers. But it’s also great news for two-tourism. And QF’s increased capacity will certainly help facilitate this.

In September, Qantas also unveiled a new non-stop service between Melbourne and Honolulu from early May 2025 and kicked off its new Brisbane-Port Vila (Vanuatu) service.