More competition on flight routes across the Pacific

More US-bound Qantas flights from Australia are in store as Air New Zealand continues its push into the long-haul market across the Tasman. Air NZ is expanding its sales operation there and has reported success in attracting Australians to its flights to the US via Auckland. A year-long marketing campaign has been running to promote Air NZ's flights to the US and this has just moved into a new phase. The Kiwi airline's service to Buenos Aires has also successfully tapped into the Australian market. Qantas international CE Gareth Evans said his airline was putting its new Dreamliner on the Melbourne-Los Angeles route later this year and services from Brisbane to new US destinations were in store. "I can understand why Air New Zealand is trying to tap into a big customer base. For us, we want to make sure we've got the best network for Australians across the Pacific," he said. "They are always a good competitor - the important thing for us is to have a great direct service to the US out of Australia." Qantas was also assessing more head-to-head competition with Air NZ, which flies a Dreamliner daily to Perth from Auckland and twice a week from Christchurch during summer.<br/>