Qantas Launches Cape Town Flights In 2027

Qantas will launch a new nonstop international service from Sydney Airport to Cape Town International Airport with the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

The new seasonal route becomes the airline’s second destination in South Africa and, crucially, removes the needed stopover in Johannesburg for passengers who typically travel onward.

Flights will commence on 19 October 2027, with the seasonal service operating three times a week on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays through 24 March 2028, serving not just the Australian summer but also Cape Town’s summer peak.

Qantas says the new route will add almost 30,000 seats between Australia and South Africa during the inaugural season alone, with room to scale flights in the future thanks to upcoming widebody deliveries and, if demand persists, turn this seasonal flight into a year-round service.

Cape Town is now positioned alongside existing services to Johannesburg from Sydney and Perth; crucially, it no longer adds frequencies to an existing city or connects another Australian city to an existing international market, but instead opens a new South African market.

The new route also comes 75 years after Qantas operated its first scheduled passenger service to South Africa: in 1952, the Wallaby Route to Johannesburg via Perth took 66 hours, with stops in the Cocos Islands and Mauritius; now, in 2027, that’ll be done nonstop.

Qantas flags that more than 120,000 Australians visited South Africa in 2025, showing demand is not just present but growing and supporting the introduction of service to Cape Town. In June this year, Australia overtook Germany to become South Africa’s third-largest overseas market, with arrivals up 19% year on year.

Boeing 787 supports Qantas expansion

The launch of service to Cape Town is supported by the upcoming delivery of more Boeing 787 Dreamliners, due to arrive from the latter stages of 2027.

For the Australian flag-carrier, 2027 is expected to be a busy year with the introduction of its new A350-1000ULR for Project Sunrise flights and more Boeing 787 deliveries beefing up its already established commitment to the series.

Having more Boeing 787s on hand, though, crucially gives Qantas the leeway to expand its international network and launch services such as those to Cape Town, where, if attempted now, capacity restrictions would come into play because not enough aircraft are available to make the route possible.

Qantas International chief executive Cam Walace has said before that the arrival of new 787-9s will be pivotal to introducing more routes on the network and forms part of a much broader and historic fleet renewal, encompassing not just widebodies but also single-aisles.

These future 787-9 additions will help establish seasonal Cape Town services, with the jets complementing the outgoing Airbus A380, which will be retired from 2028 onwards. They will eventually support the Airbus A350-1000ULR for Project Sunrise missions, with the Dreamliner better suited to long-haul but not ultra-long-haul segments.