QANTAS: Sydney to Sapporo, Japan flights doubled for next ski season

The international arm of Qantas has never been afraid of exploiting a trend. This time it’s eyeing off winter escape to Hokkaido, Japan for the 2026/2027 snow season.

Qantas will significantly increase capacity on its Sydney–Sapporo route next ski season, lifting services from three flights per week to as many as five.

This follows the current ski season which has demonstrated strong demand for northern Japan ski holidays by Australians.

More flights, seats and snow

For next season, Qantas will add more than 10,000 extra seats on the route, that’s a capacity increase of more than 50%. For the next season, that’s a total of almost 35,000 seats.

The route is fairlin new, only launching in December 2025. Australian’s current love affair with Japan, means it has proved to be one of Qantas’ strongest-performing seasonal services.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organisation, more than one million Australians visited Japan in 2025. That’s an increase of 15% on 2024. More than 121,000 travelled during the December school holidays alone, underlining just how competitive winter travel to Japan has become.

Australia’s only non-stop link to Hokkaido

Qantas is the only airline offering direct flights between Sydney and Sapporo. That gives it an edge for skiers and snowboarders wanting to avoid changing planes in Tokyo or Osaka.

“Since launching flights from Sydney to Sapporo last month the response from customers has been incredibly strong,” he said. “We’re only halfway through the current season and already we’ve carried almost 10,000 customers.”

Cam Wallace, Qantas International CEO

2026/27 Sydney–Sapporo schedule (QF107)

This is the way the flights are running between Sydney and Sapporo. It is fair to presume that flight numbers and departure times will be the same.

• Flight QF107 is currently scheduled to leave Sydney at 09:05 arriving in Sapporo at 18:00
• Flight QF108 is currently scheduled to leave Sapporo at 19:40 arriving in Sydney at 08:35 +1 day

Here’s the dates of the expanded service for next season:

• 7–15 December 2026: 3 flights per week (Mon, Wed, Sat)
• 16 December–31 January 2026: Up to 5 per week (Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun)
• 1–28 February 2027: 4 per week (Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat)
• 1–31 March 2027: 3 per week (Mon, Wed, Sat)

Fares and what to expect

Return Economy fares on the route are currently available from $1,473.

As with most ski-season services, prices tend to rise quickly for January and school holiday periods, especially once accommodation in Niseko and surrounding resorts starts filling up.

The flights are operated by Qantas’ Airbus A330 widebody aircraft, offering long-haul comfort, checked baggage and easy connections from across Australia via Sydney.

2PAXfly Takeout

Direct access to Sapporo from Australia’s east coast makes a real difference for snow travellers. It cuts hours off travel time, reduces the risk of missed connections, and makes it less complicated to travel with bulky ski gear.

With Japan continuing to dominate Australian’s winter holiday plans, this expansion suggests that Qantas is viewing Hokkaido as a long-term growth market rather than a short-term experiment.