Qantas eyes direct flights to Sydney as London to Perth route proves a hit
There is no shortage of passengers willing to spend 17 hours in the air to fly on the world’s first scheduled flight between the UK to Australia, new figures have shown.
Qantas said that its London to Perth service, linking Heathrow with the capital of Western Australia, was its “highest rating service”, that “customers love it” and that the flights had been 92 per cent full since launching in late March. Load factors in business class are even higher at 94 per cent.
“Amazing performance for a new operation,” said Alan Joyce, the Australian airline’s CEO.
The 8,991-mile route was the product of decades of ambition to run a direct link between the UK and Australia, with Qantas working hard with Boeing to make the service commercially viable.
There were also concerns that passengers would shy away from spending 17 hours in the air, but since launching the flights have been cutting their journey time down to as little as 15 hours and 45 minutes thanks to favourable winds. The popularity of the business cabin, however, with return fares starting from ￡3,843, suggests that passengers would rather tackle the journey in comfort.
Last week travel agents told Telegraph Travel that the service was selling well. A spokesperson for Trailfinders said bookings between now and the end of the March showed the service was “proving very popular indeed [and] there is very little availability left at this stage”.
The service has also been a boon to the popularity of Perth, with figures from the Civil Aviation Authority showing that as many as 90 per cent of passengers are disembarking in western Australia rather than connecting on to Melbourne or Sydney.
Qantas and the Western Australia tourist board last year embarked on a campaign to promote the culinary delights of the region, as well as its glittering coastline and cosmopolitan style.
Announcing its full year results, Qantas also revealed that its plans to connect London and Sydney by a direct flight by 2022 - dubbed Project Sunrise - are progressing.
“Work on Project Sunrise – which will unlock direct flights from the east coast of Australia to London and New York by 2022 – advanced to the request for proposal stage with Airbus and Boeing,” the airline said in a statement.
Reuters reported that although the airline chose Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner to serve its London to Perth service, it was mulling over the Airbus A350-1000 as an option for its Project Sunrise flights, setting a target of 300 passenger seats on flights between Sydney and the UK. Boeing’s 777-8, which has not yet entered production, is also in contention.
