Australian International Air Transport opens new route from Western Australia to Asia

Qantas Cargo has increased its weekly flights from Perth to Hong Kong for the first time to meet cargo demand from Western Australia. Currently,

the company operates three flights to Hong Kong per week using a modified A330-200 freighter. According to the new flight schedule released last week, 

the flight was opened on the basis of the existing twice weekly flights between Sydney and Hong Kong.

Shippers now have more options for transporting goods between Australia and New Zealand, with five weekly flights from Sydney via Auckland to Christchurch. 

Four of the flights are operated by standard sized A321 aircraft, including a new weekend flight. Qantas also offers a weekly A330 flight service on this route to support customers with significant cargo demand.

On Tuesday, Qantas Cargo will designate Melbourne as the destination for cargo services in the Oceania region to provide more import and export services from southern Australia to New Zealand. Spokesperson 

Oliver Craven McLeay explained in an email that with the addition of A321 cargo planes, Qantas can deploy A330s on its Hong Kong route.

The demand for freight services is on the rise, especially in Asia, and we are considering several options

Igor Kwiatkowski, Executive Manager of Qantas Cargo, said in a press release, "We hope to extend the schedule of the A330 freighter to more parts of Asia as we aim to 

meet current and future demand." "These changes provide more opportunities for cargo customers in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia through more frequent services and enhanced Airbus fleet capacity

Qantas has phased out old Boeing freighters this year and switched to a younger Airbus fleet. The last Boeing 767-300 was a mid size wide body aircraft, belonging to the same category as the A330, 

and the last flight for Qantas Cargo was in May. Craven McRae confirmed that the last Boeing 737 modified cargo plane in the cargo department was retired in August. 

Until recently, the airline still operated 5 737-300/400 cargo planes.

Qantas Cargo deployed the world's first A321 aircraft in October 2020. The company plans to double its A321 fleet to 12 aircraft in the coming years to leverage the growth in e-commerce shipments. Several of the planes were produced by a modification expert under Airbus and flew according to contracts with Australia Post.