Qantas to fly Australia-London non-stop in 17 hours
When it’s up and running, the 14,498 km trip from Australia’s west coast will rank among the world’s longest commercial passenger flights
Qantas plans to operate non-stop flights from Perth to London, the world’s first regular passenger service linking Australia directly to Europe in a move hailed by tourism groups Monday.
The airline will use a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for the 17-hour journey, some 70 years after it first began flying to London on its “Kangaroo Route” which originally took four days and included nine stops.
In recent years, Chinese carriers such as China Southern Airlines Co. have offered longer, cheaper ways to get to Europe from Australia - with layovers in Guangzhou.
“This is a game-changing route flown by a game-changing aircraft. Australians have never had a direct link to Europe before, so the opportunities this opens up are huge,” said chief executive Alan Joyce.
“It’s great news for travellers because it will make it easier to get to London. It’s great news for Western Australia because it will bring jobs and tourism.
“And it’s great news for the nation, because it will bring us closer to one of our biggest trade partners and sources of visitors.”