Qantas to fly Sydney–Cape Town non-stop from October 2027

Qantas will operate Australia's first non-stop flights to Cape Town, launching a seasonal service between Sydney and the South African city on 19 October 2027. The route runs three times weekly until 24 March 2028, flown with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners (the long-range variant of Boeing's wide-body family).

The flights will depart Sydney in the morning and arrive in Cape Town in the afternoon, according to the airline's schedule outline. Capacity depends on new 787 deliveries: Qantas says the additional Dreamliners, slated to arrive starting next year, make the route possible.

Cape Town becomes Qantas' second South African destination. The carrier already flies to Johannesburg from both Sydney and Perth.

What does the route change for passengers?

It removes a connection for a market Qantas currently serves only indirectly. Cam Wallace, CEO of Qantas International, said tens of thousands of customers each year fly Qantas to Johannesburg and then transfer to Cape Town on partner airline Airlink.

"Cape Town is a true bucket-list city and Australia's appetite to visit has never been stronger," Wallace said. "We know there's strong demand for a non-stop service."

He tied the route directly to fleet capacity: "The arrival of our new 787s as part of our historic fleet renewal gives us the flexibility to grow our international network in places we know our customers want to travel, while also creating new opportunities for our people."

What does the demand data show?

Qantas' figures point to a growing market:

• More than 120,000 Australians visited South Africa in 2025, with demand continuing to grow.
• In June this year, Australia overtook Germany to become South Africa's third-largest overseas source market, with arrivals up 19 per cent year on year.
• Almost 225,000 South African-born people live in Australia, around a quarter of them in New South Wales — a base the airline says the route will serve for family and friend visits.

On Johannesburg routes, Qantas currently competes with South African Airways on the Perth–Johannesburg pairing only. The Cape Town service faces no direct non-stop competitor on the Australian route.

Which aircraft underpin the plan?

The Cape Town flights sit within the wide-body order Qantas announced in 2023: four Boeing 787-9s and eight larger 787-10s, alongside 12 Airbus A350-1000s (Airbus' largest twin-engine wide-body).

Former CEO Alan Joyce framed the order at the time as a long-horizon fleet decision. "Both the 787 and A350 and the GE and Rolls Royce engines fitted to them are thoroughly proven and extremely capable," Joyce said. "These are generational decisions for this company. The aircraft will arrive over a decade or more, and they'll be part of the fleet for 20 years. They'll unlock new routes and better travel experiences for customers and new jobs and promotions for our people."

Qantas unveiled the business-cabin designs for its new Dreamliners earlier this year.

The seasonal window — October through March — aligns with the Southern Hemisphere summer and Cape Town's peak visitor season. Whether Qantas extends the route beyond March 2028 or adds frequencies will depend on how the first season performs against the demand signals the airline has already identified.