Qanta Expands Manila Services

Opens Brisbane-Manila Flight

15 May 2024

Australian flag carrier Qantas will begin direct flights between Brisbane and Manila beginning October 28 2024, four times a week. Flight services will be flown with Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

Flight QF97 will depart Brisbane at 7.15pm every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday arriving Manila's Terminal 3 at 1am the following day.

Flight QF98 will depart Manila at 2.45am arriving Brisbane at 12.20pm the same day. 

Qantas also offers flight services from Sydney to Manila daily with Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

According to the airline, the new route is part of a series of changes made to Qantas’ Asia network, which has seen the axing of Sydney-Shanghai flights beginning July 28, due to poor demand but boosting Sydney-Singapore, Sydney-Bengaluru, Brisbane-Singapore and introducing Brisbane-Manila, due to 30% hike of business travelers to the Philippines.

Flight numbers QF97/QF98 to Manila were used to be assigned to Brisbane-Hong Kong route, which indicates Qantas not returning any time soon. 

 “Since Covid, the demand for travel between Australia and China has not recovered as strongly as expected,” Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said in a statement.

“In some months, our flights to and from Shanghai have been operating around half full. That’s why we’ve decided to suspend this route and boost flying to other popular destinations with a new route from Brisbane to Manila and additional flights to Singapore and Bengaluru,” said Wallace. 

The airline said “the move will create more choice for our corporate and leisure customers” and make it “even easier” for them to access the places they need to travel to in Asia.

“We’ll continue to maintain a presence in China through our partners and our existing flights to Hong Kong and look to return to Shanghai in the future,” adds Wallace.