MIAMI – The financial troubles affecting SAA (SA) forced it to discontinue its Perth-Johannesburg service, leaving it open for Qantas Airways’ (QF) to step in.
Qantas Airways’ plans to fly a Perth (PER) to Johannesburg (JNB) route were abandoned in 2018 over a still ongoing disagreement with Perth Airport Authorities on which terminal QF should use.
The Airport wanted QF to use the T1 international terminal while QF wished to run the flights from the newly developed international wing of its T3-T4 domestic terminal, also used for Boeing 787 flights to London an Boeing 737 flights to Singapore.
By using the new terminal, QF would have skipped the necessity to tow the aircraft between terminals T1 and T3, a procedure deemed “logistically not OK” whenever an aircraft has to shift from an international to a domestic service.