Qantas switch Santiago to 787s, extend Singapore lounge

With the pending withdrawal of the Boeing 747-400 fleet at Qantas, changes are being made to the network. The latest affects the non-stop flights to Santiago, Chile.

In addition, the overcrowding issue in the Qantas Singapore Lounge has been addressed, with more to come. Qantas are due to announce their annual results on 22 August 2019, and perhaps we will also get a Project Sunrise update at the same time.

Qantas and Santiago

The Australian airline currently flies four times per week between Sydney and Santiago using a Boeing 747-400. The route commenced back in 2012 and is a codeshare with LATAM. From June 2020, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will take over the service.

At the same time, there will be an increase in frequency from four times per week to daily. As mentioned in the press release, this will help facilitate connections beyond Santiago, to places such as Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Bogota, Guayaquil Lima and Montevideo.

Qantas Singapore Lounge

When Qantas switched back to using Singapore instead of Dubai as its connection point on the way to London, the Qantas Singapore Lounge was overwhelmed with passengers. So much so that some frequent flyers were sent elsewhere or not permitted to access the lounge.

Happily, this restriction is now lifted as extra space has been found by taking over a paid luggage storage area that adjoined the lounge. This means there are 76 extra seats available. Later this year things get better as the new Qantas Singapore First Class lounge will open, providing an exclusive area for the very best customers.

Overall Thoughts

I’m pleased to see Santiago going daily, as it will complement the daily services from LATAM quite well. When it comes to the Singapore lounge, no doubt everyone will be happy to have access and face no restrictions.

The big thing to look forward to is the new Qantas Singapore First lounge. Qantas have been rolling out new lounges as a single concept, such as the Qantas London Lounge. Singapore will have the first dedicated First Class lounge in a very long time, so I’m curious to see how that looks.

What do you think of the change of aircraft for Santiago? Have you been affected by the previous overcrowding in Singapore? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Qantas.
Boeing 787 by Bahnfrend via Wikimedia Commons.