Executive Traveller exclusive
Qatar Airways will extend its daily Doha-Melbourne and Doha-Brisbane flights to Auckland, and hopes to carve out a slice of the market for these popular routes across the Tasman.
The same Boeing 777s which now make the 13½-hour trek from Doha to Melbourne and Brisbane will add a quick 3-4 hour hop across the pond to Auckland, before returning later that day to tackle their respective Melbourne-Doha and Brisbane-Doha journeys.
This means travellers can look forward to the exceptional Qsuites business class – along with top-notch catering – plus the bonus of fast and free Starlink Wi-Fi for every passenger.
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According to the Federal Government’s latest figures, almost 1.1 million people flew between Melbourne and Auckland from March 2025 to March 2026, while Brisbane-Auckland carried 943,000 travellers across the same period.
It’s not an uncommon practice for some international airlines to add an Australia-New Zealand leg to their schedules, to utilise the aircraft during what could otherwise be an extended layover.
Emirates’ daily Dubai-Sydney-Christchurch A380 flight is a popular example among savvy travellers, especially for passengers who book a ticket in the premium cabins, with Starlux adding Taipei-Sydney-Auckland next year.
Qatar Airways’ new trans-Tasman flights
While Qatar Airways has yet to officially announce these add-on Auckland legs – which in aviation jargon are called ‘tags’ or ‘fifth freedom flights’ – both the Melbourne-Auckland and Brisbane-Auckland routes have now appeared on the Qatar Airways website.
A spokesperson for Qatar Airways declined to comment when approached by Executive Traveller.
The listed airfares are on par with Qantas and Air New Zealand, starting from around $1,300 in business class and $550 in economy.
Of course, the Qatar Airways experience is markedly superior – especially in business class – although the post-midnight departure of flights from Melbourne and Brisbane and their 6am-7am arrival at Auckland will be less than ideal for many.
This is the best way to fly between Brisbane and Auckland…
Qatar Airways currently flies an Adelaide-Auckland leg on the back of its Doha-Adelaide service, but this is being dropped as of December 9.
From what the QR schedule shows, the new Melbourne-Auckland flights begin on Thursday December 10 and run through to late June 2027, at which stage Brisbane-Auckland appears to take over the trans-Tasman tag.
Qatar Airways’ Melbourne–Auckland flights from December 10
QR904 will depart Melbourne at 1:20am, landing in Auckland at 6:50am: now this will be a bit of an ask, with the late night (or rather, early morning) wheels-up time leading into a very short red-eye flight (power naps for the win!).
In addition, travellers staying in Auckland will need to roll the dice on their hotel providing an early check-in, or carry the cost of booking their stay from the day before.
However, if you’re catching a connecting early-morning domestic flight from Auckland to elsewhere within New Zealand, or live in Auckland and are headed home, the timings could work for you.
QR905 leaves Auckland at 1:15pm, to reach Melbourne at 3:10pm: much better, especially for the ability to pop into the Auckland lounge of fellow Oneworld member Qantas.
To accommodate this extra Auckland leg, Qatar Airways will shuffle its Doha-Melbourne QR904/QR905 service into the slots currently held by Virgin Australia’s VA7/VA8 flights, with Virgin moving into the existing QR904/905 timings.
Enjoy true international-grade business class service on this quick trans-Tasman hop.
Qatar Airways’ Brisbane–Auckland flights from June 26
From Saturday June 26, 2027, it seems the Melbourne-Auckland flights end and Brisbane-Auckland begins.
QR898 departs Brisbane at 12.55am (ouch!) to reach Auckland at 5.55am.
It’s similar and rather unfriendly timing to Qatar’s Melbourne-Auckland flights, so our same observations made earlier apply here.
QR899 leaves Auckland at 11:20am, landing back in Brisbane at 1:10pm, before continuing onto Doha at 3:10pm.
As part of the Auckland extension, Qatar Airways will move its daily Brisbane flight into the same slots currently used by Virgin Australia’s VA15/VA16 flights between Brisbane and Doha – which of course run on a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 with crew and catering supplied by Qatar Airways.
At the time of writing it’s not clear how those VA flights will change – although as we’ve seen with Qatar’s new Melbourne-Auckland service, Virgin may end up adopting the original Qatar Airways slots.
Selected pairs of Qsuites can be converted into a double bed.
Other airlines connecting Brisbane and Auckland include:
Qantas, with a mix of Boeing 737s and the bigger, more comfortable Airbus A330s
Air New Zealand, featuring the Airbus A321neo, Boeing 777 and Boeing 787
Taiwan’s China Airlines, which operates its own ‘tag’ leg on a modern Airbus A350
Also read: How Qatar Airways’ free Qsuite Guarantee works
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