Some amazing business class fares are available from Australia to Europe right now, flying with the well-regarded Hainan Airlines.
Tickets are available from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns to destinations like London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Brussels, and are as low as $3000 return. Here’s Melbourne-Paris as an example:
All routes are via Shenzen, Xián or Changsha in China. Depending on your itinerary, there could be a long layover in one of these cities. This might be an opportunity to explore the city (Australians can now get transit entry into China for a few days without a Visa) or make it a stopover (these are free).
Open jaw bookings are also available (arrive in one city, return from another).
Tickets are available for departures from 21 August until the end of the year, as best as I can tell.
The flights are operated by A330s and 787s with comfortable seats in either 1-2-1 or 2-2-2 layout. Hainan is generally reported to have good service and dining on board.
As Hainan is a Virgin Australia partner, you can earn Velocity Points and all-important status credits on the flights between Australia and China (check out the earn table here). The flights between China and Europe can be credited to other Hainan partners, like Etihad or Alaska.
You can search and book the fares on Hainan’s website here, but as date options are limited, play around on Google Flights first to find the dates with the cheapest fares (note that the fares are often a few hundred dollars cheaper on Hainan’s site compared to what’s quoted on Google Flights. An odd quirk.)
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