Non-Stop London (LHR) to Australia (Perth) flights

Smoked Tuna

Qantas will operate a direct flight from Perth to London in 2018.

The first direct flight from Australia to Europe.

It will be longer than the Dubai to Auckland, New Zealand flight.

https://theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/11/qantas-confirms-non-stop-perth-to-london-flights-from-march-2018

sandbelter

QF are looking at operating their European operations from PER.  FRA, CDG and FCO are expected to follow next.  
Should attract a lot of travelers that would have otherwise gone to Cape Town for holidays.

Jamie2k9

Really bugs me when airlines reveal these big plans so far in advance. Would be gas if BA launched it before they even get to announce it properly.

Blut2

Good news for QF. Should help them stem the loss of traffic to Emirates connections via DXB I'd imagine (I know they're in partnership now, but still - I'm sure QF prefer having PAX on their own metal).

J.pilkington

Can see these flights being expensive initially as planes can seat less than 250 and it will take a while before enough planes are delivered.

Great move however as Qantas were struggling to differentiate from the emirates offering.

Smoked Tuna

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Really bugs me when airlines reveal these big plans so far in advance. Would be gas if BA launched it before they even get to announce it properly.

Not really that far in advance, tickets will be on sale in a few months.

Irish Steve

Smoked Tuna wrote: »

Aer Lingus Dublin to Perth direct

To do it, they'd need the new runway, the 330 is not capable of that range, but even the 787 MTOW at sea level ISA day, needs 10000 Ft to get airborne, which won't be available until the new runway is completed.

I will be interested to see how often the 787 ends up having to stop somewhere for fuel on the Perth London direction, the 787 max range is 15190 Km, what could cause issues is the jet stream speeds, which will influence the ground speed.

Dublin Perth Great Circle (shortest) distance is 14885 Km, so it won't take a lot of headwind to make non stop impossible, even with the range of the 787. The GC distance from Heathrow is 14470, so even that will be marginal with some winds. Another factor will be the actual routing they end up having to take for ATC and overflight reasons.

Not going to happen, but an interesting theoretical route is Dublin Auckland, the GC distance is over 18K kilometers, so it would need a tech stop in Anchorage (Alaska) for fuel and a crew change, it would be a northerly departure from Dublin over the pole,and there would probably be ETOPS issues with the sector from Anchorage down to Auckland, but the theory is fun to look at.

Zonda999

Great to see this happen. This means that airports like Cork or Shannon would only be one stop from Perth whereby previously they would have been two minimum.

That said, no doubt the ME3 will look at this move with utter contempt and drop prices on tickets to/from Perth. EK operate to Perth twice daily (A380 & 77W), QR operate a daily 77W and Etihad fly a daily 789. So when you also consider the offerings by Singapore airlines, Malaysian and Thai as well, you'll see thes no shortage of capacity from Perth to Europe

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

Smoked Tuna

jacksie66 wrote: »

I dunno. I prefer long trips with multiple stops. Breaks up the monotony of being stuck in an airplane..

Plus doesn't make much difference for Irish people, they would have to fly to London anyway to get on board this direct flight, they can just go through the middle east with one stop, which is probably less stressful than going through London.

sandbelter

Unless you're flying from Australia to London, its still quicker to travel by traditional one stops.  

The other target market is PER to East Coast USA/Canada were its quicker to fly via Europe, I've seen figures where 40% of SQ's  non stop US flights originated in PER, JFK/IAH-PER are in particular quite high yielding because of oil and PER-YYZ due to mining.

Sultan of Bling

17 hours is tough going though. I think I'd rather have a stopover of a couple of hours.

Gael23

Looks like this is happening in March 2018

JCX BXC

Smoked Tuna wrote: »

Plus doesn't make much difference for Irish people, they would have to fly to London anyway to get on board this direct flight, they can just go through the middle east with one stop, which is probably less stressful than going through London.

It does if you're not flying from Dublin! Irish people live down here in Clare too

Gerrup Outta Dat!

JCX BXC wrote: »

It does if you're not flying from Dublin! Irish people live down here in Clare too

The horror of it, I know

Gael23

Any reviews of it so far?

Comhrá

Here are a few for you. Even one review from that hallowed oracle, The Sun, no less.

The review from the Guardian is the inaugural flight so it probably isn't totally typical of the regular service.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/seat-review-qantas-economy-dreamliner-perth-to-london-2018-7

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/mar/25/my-17-hour-qantas-odyssey-in-kangaroo-pyjamas

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/5894968/qantas-airlines-direct-flights-london-perth-australia-economy-class/

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

California Dreamer

A quick look on flightaware shows QF10 is around the 16 hour mark. I rather have the 7ish to DOH/DXB and another 10-11 to PER. Just for the couple of hours break, there is only so many movies you can watch.

Gael23

California Dreamer wrote: »

A quick look on flightaware shows QF10 is around the 16 hour mark. I rather have the 7ish to DOH/DXB and another 10-11 to PER. Just for the couple of hours break, there is only so many movies you can watch.

I think the same. Would rather split it, get a break in DXB and some decent food.

duskyjoe

Sultan of Bling wrote: »

17 hours is tough going though. I think I'd rather have a stopover of a couple of hours.

How do you think the crew feels doing this? I know they have crew rest periods but believe me one never really sleeps on an aircraft in a crew bunk- it’s a fitful rest. They must be in pieces at destination. No thanks

Gael23

Only benefit I see is you get to Perth at a nice time of day.

duskyjoe

Gael23 wrote: »

Only benefit I see is you get to Perth at a nice time of day.

I suppose in bits and in flitters in the sun as against wind and rain has its bonuses but as crew it’s a bridge too far imo. 12 hours is my max

Tenger

duskyjoe wrote: »

How do you think the crew feels doing this? I know they have crew rest periods but believe me one never really sleeps on an aircraft in a crew bunk- it’s a fitful rest. They must be in pieces at destination. No thanks

17 hour sector. I guess they would get 2 decent stints in the bunks on that trip?
I would hope they get 48 hours downroute and decent days off to recover after getting back to Perth

Ninja edit in response to below; I remember reading an article about the then longest Delta route. It was ATL-DXB, 15 hours each way. The flight attendants were all max seniority (Atlanta is an in demand base as well so picture lots of grey hair) Delta look for 90 hours per month from their FAs. Crew would bid for 3 of these per month and that would be their work done. Im sure its similar with the Flight crew but the article focused on the cabin experience for passengers and the multiple service's from crew.

Blut2

The crew would be pretty close to a full month's hours done after doing a return trip wouldn't they? That might be a decent positive to make up for the horrendous length.

I believe most senior American cabin crew prefer doing fewer, longer journeys to get their hours up quickly rather than lots of little short hops. Not sure how it is with other nationalities.

zell12

Four years later:

Qantas has announced it will begin operating non-stop flights from Sydney to London and New York from 2025.. The first Sydney-London flights will depart in late 2025 and take about 20 hours, making them the world's longest passenger flights.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/02/qantas-non-stop-flights-australia-to-new-york-london-from-sydney-melbourne-airbus-a350-1000

Captain Barnacles

Wow!!!

So I can go to Australia now ?

Are they still looking for tests as well as vaccinations ? , vaccination is fine, relying on a test that could **** up such a once in a lifetime trip is a risk many won't take...

Noxegon

I'm wondering if there might be a market for "shared business class" on flights like these.

You get economy for half the flight and a lie-flat bed for the other half.

I guess couples travelling could do this themselves, buying one ticket of each class and swapping part way...

Shiok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119004554#Comment_119004554

Really happy to see this.

I have flown two round trips of Singapore – New York this year (currently world’s longest flight) and would happily do very long-haul over stop-overs.

Blut2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119005190#Comment_119005190

https://i.imgur.com/AgwMWvV.jpg

Air New Zealand were offering these seats for a while before corona, I would guess there'd be a good market for them on the new SYD -> LHR direct flight given the 20hr~ duration.

If you're flying as a couple you can just buy 3 economy seats instead of 2, not a massive difference in price, and get a (fairly cramped) bed for yourselves to get a decent nights sleep.

California Dreamer

LHR-PER direct returns in June.