QANTAS: December 2024 start for direct Darwin to Singapore flights
From December 2024, Singapore will join Denpasar, Bali (Jetstar) and Dili, East Timor, to become the third international destination that the Qantas Group flies to from Darwin. That also means Qantas will go head-to-head with Singapore Airlines, the only other carrier that flies the route.
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Great for Territorians
The advent of this route will be great for Northern Territorians, providing another way to reach Singapore, the international gateway to the rest of Asia and the world. Territorians could join QF1 in Singapore to take them to London and Europe. NT’ers will no longer have to backtrack to the eastern capitals before heading overseas. That should knock off five or more hours from their trip.
Embraer 190s go International
Starting 9 December 2024, passengers will board an Embraer 190 jet to make the journey. They can choose from flights running five days a week initially and increasing to daily from March 2025. The establishment of the E190 base at Darwin Airport makes using the aircraft on this route possible, as well as the trip to Dili.
The jets – run by Alliance, feature 9 Business class seats and either 84 or 88 seats in Economy with 9 or 10 in Business
Great for visitors to Australia wanting an outback experience
The route will also open the Territory to overseas tourists who want a proper outback experience, like a trip to Katherine, or Kakadu National Park. It should be a boon to overseas tourism to the Northern Territory.
History
Darwin has a special role in the history of Qantas. The Darwin to Singapore hop was part of the original Kangaroo Route starting back in 1935. That original hopping route, used to take 5 stops to get from Darwin to Singapore over four and a half days. Now, it’s just shy of five hours on the Embraer Jet, at 4 hours 45 minutes.
Qantas has not flown the route since 2006.
Lounge Access
Qantas passengers in Business Class or with Gold or Platinum status or membership of the Qantas Club will have access to the Qantas Club Lounge, formerly the Catalina Lounge in Darwin. The lounge was ‘Qantasified’ during the pandemic when Western Australia was locked down, and direct flights to London flew from Darwin and not Perth.
In Singapore, Business Class passengers and Gold or Platinum status members will have access to the Qantas International First or Business Lounge at Singapore’s Changi Airport.
2PAXfly Takeout
This is not groundbreaking, and I am not sure I would fancy nearly 5 hours on an Embraer jet. But, hell, it is better than backtracking to Sydney or Brisbane and spending hours overnight for a connecting flight out of Australia, which probably over-flies Darwin anyway!
Tickets are available for sale from today.
People in Alaska wanting to fly to Japan often have to fly to Seattle then, hours later, overfly Alaska on a Seattle Tokyo flight. I suppose some people in Darwin had to fly to Brisbane then fly to Asia.
For those in Canada and the US, this flight might be useful to combine Singapore and NT in one trip.
I did not previously know that it is possible to fly from Darwin to Timor Leste. I have long thought that visiting Timor Leste might be interesting (or maybe boring?).
Interesting article.
Hi Derek,
Thanks for your comment. Timor-Leste has also been on my list. Qantas, using Alliance Airlines and an Embraer 190 flies to Dili on flight QF351/QF350.
It’s only a 1.25 hour flight from Darwin, or 7hrs 25 minutes on the most direct route from Sydney (1.5 hour stopover in Darwin). Looks like flights operate daily. AirNorth also flies there.
Return fares out of Darwin on Qantas are roughly ~AU$ 650 Economy and ~AU$ 2,000 Business.