Qantas to fly Boeing 787 Dreamliners across the Tasman

Qantas will use Dreamliners once a day across the Tasman over summer. Photo / Supplied

Qantas will operate its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner across the Tasman between Auckland and Sydney over the peak summer season, marking the plane's debut in New Zealand skies.

From December 4 to March 28 next year one of the airline's five daily flights will be aboard the aircraft in addition to the Boeing 737s and Airbus A330s the airline uses on the route.

While meeting extra demand during the busy summer period, flying Dreamliners across the Tasman will give the airline the opportunity to promote the plane in the New Zealand market.

Qantas is already targeting New Zealand passengers with its ultra-long haul fights between Perth and London and will hope Kiwis are attracted to its Brisbane-Chicago service next year.

Air New Zealand will use Dreamliners over summer to operate services to/from Auckland to Adelaide, Perth and Sydney as well as Christchurch to Perth. It also operates some Boeing 777s across the Tasman.

Both are widebody planes which are popular with passengers on the route where narrow body, single aisle planes provide a high proportion of the 10 million seats available each year.

Dreamliners entered the Qantas fleet from October 2017. The airline has eight of the planes and six more will arrive from October this year ahead of the retirement of the last of its Boeing 747s in 2020.

Qantas International acting chief executive Naren Kumar said the debut of the Dreamliner across the Tasman was good news for customers, while also making the best use of the airline's fleet.

"The Dreamliner has been incredibly popular so we're pleased to give our customers travelling between Auckland and Sydney the opportunity to experience it," he said.

The aircraft has 42 business, 28 premium economy and 166 economy seats.

Qantas has on sale seats in premium economy from $299 one-way for QF141 and QF144 between Auckland and Sydney.

Qantas Dreamliners are powered by General Electric engines. Its Perth-London flights are the longest flown by Dreamliners, a flight of 14,499km. It is the first scheduled flight linking Australia and Britain.