Scheduling fun & games: Qantas's Las Vegas NRL charters!

Last month, Qantas loaded several charter flights from Brisbane and Sydney to Los Vegas in February and March 2026 in support of Rugby League Las Vegas. This annual event is entering its third year in 2026 and this will be the third time that Qantas have operated charter flights for the event. As reported by Aeroroutes, Qantas will operate four return flights, one from Brisbane and three from Sydney.

This is a significant increase compared to previous years, with only two flights in 2024 and 2025 (one each from Brisbane and Sydney). What’s immediately obvious from the schedule is that the return flights (1 and 2 March 2026) are a week after the outbound flights (24 and 25 February 2026). Qantas aren’t just going to leave four B787-9s sitting around Vegas waiting for the return, so how are they going to schedule this?

Outbound:

QF341 SYD LAS 13:00 07:40 B789 24FEB26
QF343 SYD LAS 15:20 10:00 B789 24FEB26
QF341 SYD LAS 15:20 10:00 B789 25FEB26
QF345 BNE LAS 20:30 15:50 B789 25FEB26

Return:

QF344 LAS SYD 20:00 06:20+2 B789 01MAR26
QF342 LAS SYD 23:25 09:45+2 B789 01MAR26
QF346 LAS BNE 19:40 05:00+2 B789 02MAR26 
QF342 LAS SYD 23:25 09:45+2 B789 02MAR26

Do they run empty legs, flying the the four B787-9s back to Australia empty after delivering their passengers on 24 and 25 February, and them position empty back to Las Vegas from Australia for 1 and 2 March? That’s obviously absurd, so what’s the plan?