Qantas Offers Direct Australia-UK Flights From £1,095

28th Apr 2017

Australian carrier Qantas is making big changes to its "Kangaroo Route" and a big part of that change will be the first non-stop flight between Australia and United Kingdom the airline has planned to start from 25th March next year.

Tickets for direct flight between Perth and London are already on sale and so return fares are starting at ?1,095 or A$1,893.

Alan Joyce, Chief Executive Officer at Qantas said:

"We've said the Qantas Dreamliner is a game changer, and that's becoming real today. The kangaroo route has kept changing with new technology. It used to take four days and seven stops but now we're able to link Australia and UK in a single hop. It's a level of convenience Australians have never had before."

He said the route is aimed at both tourists and business travellers and would appeal to both:

"This route makes Western Australia a new tourism gateway for Australia. We know from our research that there's a lot of appetite to explore the west, not just from British and European visitors but also from Aussies on their way to London. A lot of business travellers, particularly in the resources sector, will stop off in Perth on their way to the UK."

Qantas, he said, wanted to offer its Dreamliner passengers more comfort and as a result would have a lower seat count than most competitors.

"We're conscious that this is a long flight, but not much longer than our Sydney to Dallas service. It's the kind of route that the Dreamliner was created for, because of its built-in features to reduce jet lag and improve the overall travel experience."

Perth-London flights will be the longest Dreamliner flight in the world, as well as the longest flight for Qantas. It will take 17 hours in one direction and is 9,000 miles long. Back in 1947, Qantas needed four days and seven stops to take its passengers from Perth to London.

The airline also said that this will allow passengers travelling from Melbourne to London to transfer in Perth and thus reduce their travel time by an hour or more, instead of transferring in Dubai.