On May 28, Qantas announced changes to its international schedule that would see the airline increase services to Los Angeles and South Africa and add a South American destination to its network.

Qantas Group General Manager Sales and Distribution Rob Gurney said the schedule changes were a signal of Qantas' commitment to Australian tourism.

Mr Gurney said the expanded Qantas' international schedule included:

• an additional return service between Sydney and Shanghai (from August 2007), taking the total number of flights offered on the route to five per week;
• two additional Brisbane-Los Angeles services each week (from March 2008);
• one additional Sydney-Los Angeles service each week (from March 2008);
• commencement of services to South America (from November 2008);
• an additional one weekly service between Sydney and Johannesburg (from November 2008).

"China is an important and growing aviation market and Qantas has been concentrating on growth opportunities on its China routes since we recommenced operations there in 2004. From August, we will offer eight return services a week from Sydney to China - five to Shanghai and three to Beijing.

"We will be looking at further opportunities to expand our presence in China - for example, we will be offering supplementary services to Beijing to coincide with the 2008 Olympics."

Mr Gurney said the new international schedule would include three extra return services per week from Los Angeles to Australia - two into Brisbane and one into Sydney from March 2008.

"The two extra Brisbane-Los Angeles services will see Qantas offer a daily operation between the two cities."

Mr Gurney said this would take the number of services Qantas offered from mainland USA to Australia to a record 43 per week to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane from Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

"Qantas also offers an extensive network of codeshare services in both North and South America, providing services through our partner airlines throughout the US and to Canada, Chile and Mexico," he said.

"We expect to operate our direct services between Sydney and Santiago from November 2008, using B747-400 aircraft.

"We also plan to increase services to South Africa to six per week from November 2008, subject to government negotiation and approval, with the aim of moving to daily services."