Qantas picks Melbourne for Dreamliner launch base

Melbourne has secured bragging rights over Sydney on another Qantas first.

The Qantas 787-9 Dreamliner.

Melbourne has secured bragging rights over Sydney on another Qantas first, with the airline ­announcing its new Boeing Dreamliners will fly from the Victorian capital.

A non-stop Melbourne to Los Angeles service will operate six times a week from December 15 next year. Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth were vying to be the launch base for the ultra-longhaul Boeing 787s. Melbourne clinched the prize after the Victorian government and its tourism body, Visit Victoria, enticed the airline with offers of marketing support.

“We’ll be working with Visit Victoria on joint marketing campaigns to highlight what Victoria and the Qantas Dreamliner have to offer,” said Qantas internat­ional chief Gareth Evans.

Melbourne Airport also ­offered enticements but declined to reveal what they were.

“We’re delighted by today’s Qantas announcement ... (but) we can’t get into the details of our commercial arrangement,” said Melbourne Airport chief of aviation Simon Gandy.

Qantas has eight of the 787-9 aircraft on order to replace its ageing 747 jumbo jets. Four will be ­delivered in the 2017-18 financial year and four in the year after.

Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan said using the Dreamliners on the US route made sense. “International arrivals figures highlight the seemingly insatiable level of demand for Australia among American travellers. We welcomed just shy of 700,000 American visitors in the past 12 months,” he said.

“The 787 Dreamliner delivers an exceptional experience for long haul flyers and Qantas have been very shrewd in making sure they service this blue ribbon tourism corridor with the very best of their hard product.”

The unveiling of the Melbourne route comes after Qantas launched a non-stop direct flight from Perth to London. That service will launch in March 2018.