Qatar Airways has switched jumping off airports for their rather neat fifth freedom flights to Auckland. Throughout the pandemic, the Doha-based airline had operated a Doha - Brisbane - Auckland service, but recently Qatar ditched the Brisbane stopover in favor of Adelaide, in the process re-establishing a direct Adelaide - Auckland air link and opening up a very cruisy way to fly between Australia and New Zealand.
Qatar's fifth freedom flight switch to Adelaide
Three times a week, QR914 pushes back from Doha (DOH) at 21:25 for the 13 hour overnight trek down to Adelaide (ADL), landing there at 18:00 the following day. After 90 minutes on the ground in the South Australian capital, QR914 departs at 19:30 and continues onto Auckland (AKL), arriving there at 01:55 the next morning.
The westbound flights now leave Auckland thrice-weekly at 18:00, allowing for a civilized 20:15 arrival into Adelaide after four hours and 45 minutes in the air. After a two-hour and five-minute stopover, QR915 takes off to Doha at 22:20, landing there at 04:30 the next day. While these schedules will soon change, frequencies are sticking to thrice weekly for the next few months.
It's not bad news for Brisbane (BNE). They are retaining their Qatar Airways service. In fact, Brisbane is now upgraded from six flights a week to daily Qatar Airways flights. And Qatar Airways never actually sold standalone tickets to fly between Brisbane and Auckland - you had to be going to or coming from Doha or points beyond to access the flight.
Normally, Taipei-based China Airlines flies the fifth freedom route between BNE and AKL and sells standalone tickets for this leg. Those flights remain paused, but with Taiwan on New Zealand's visa waiver list and New Zealand opening to fully vaccinated travelers from visa waiver countries on May 1, there is a good chance China Airlines will return to the route, maintaining a fifth freedom option for travelers flying between Brisbane and Auckland.
Good news for Adelaide
But the Qatar Airways switch is brilliant news for Adelaide. Qatar Airways is selling tickets on the sector without requiring further travel. Usually, Air New Zealand flies the route, offering a relatively decent Boeing 787-9 service. But Air New Zealand has temporarily paused their ADL - AKL services. Australian flag carrier Qantas ended international flights to anywhere out of Adelaide years ago. Qatar Airways is currently the sole operator on the Adelaide - Auckland route.
But even if Air New Zealand and Qantas were operating on the sector, the Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER easily outshines anything those airlines offer on flights between Australia and New Zealand. Until Emirates reinstates their A380 fifth freedom flights between Sydney and Christchurch, traveling in Qatar's QSuites between Adelaide and Auckland is most definitely the most comfortable way to move between the two countries.
Like that Emirates flight, this Qatar Airways fifth freedom flight would usually be manna from heaven for Australia's 12 million-plus Qantas Frequent Flyer members. Both Qantas and Qatar are members of oneworld, and oneworld fifth freedom flights are generally good opportunities to travel in style at a reasonable price, whether paying in cash or points. Interestingly, that doesn't appear to be the case here.
Cash prices are relatively high, and Qantas isn't selling the flights on its site over the next few months. That may change, but meanwhile, oneworld partner British Airways is selling tickets and allowing Avios redemptions on Qatar Airways on the ADL - AKL city pair - 38,750 points for a nearly five-hour QSuite fifth freedom flight. What's not to like about that?