This is now brought forward to Monday 23 May 2022. As before COVID-19, the flight will continue between Perth and Melbourne.
There have been reports of operational problems flying non-stop between Darwin and London, with passengers’ bags left behind in some instances.
Perth will also again a non-stop link to Rome shortly afterwards with a new seasonal Qantas service between 25 June and 6 October 2022.
At the time of publication, timetables on the Qantas website do not appear to have been fully updated. Inbound flights to London still show as operating from Darwin.
British Airways 8 Seat Boeing 787-9 First Class Cabin (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways will return to Sydney from Sunday 27 March 2022.
This will be the first time in two years the airline has operated a scheduled flight to Australia.
Whilst BA’s presence in Australia is a shadow of what it used to be, its return is symbolic given there is almost 90 years’ history of UK flights from London to Australia via Singapore.
Flights will operate daily using a four class Boeing 787-9 aircraft. This replaces a Boeing 777-300 aircraft BA used before COVID-19.
This also means flights to Singapore will increase from the current frequency of four times weekly to daily, under flights BA15 & B16 instead of BA11 & BA12.
This will make all countries extremely cautious about lifting travel restrictions, and requiring strict adherence to rules on quarantine for arriving passengers.
Qantas has operated special repatriation flights from London Heathrow to Perth. These were suspended in early June after the Australian Federal Government ended funding for these flights.
Qantas’ original plan following the outbreak of COVID-19 was to operate twice daily flights from London Heathrow to Melbourne and Sydney, via Perth non-stop, with Boeing 787-9 aircraft, with the latter replacing its daily Airbus A380 service to Sydney via Singapore. This is likely to be the case when Qantas eventually resumes flights from London.
For passengers with bookings, guidance on refunds and rebooking flights is available from Qantas.
British Airways and Qatar Airways have received final approval from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) to operate a joint-business in respect of flights between certain cities in Europe and Australia.
You could be forgiven for thinking the two airlines already had such a joint business for Australia, but that is not the case.
Whilst BA and Qatar have operated a joint business for some years, this only currently covers flights from the UK to Doha, and many destinations beyond Doha in Africa and Asia.
BA and Qatar have operated a codeshare for many UK – Australia routings such as Manchester – Doha – Melbourne or Cardiff – Doha – Perth which can be booked through BA as a codeshare.
The approval from the ACCC will allow BA and Qatar to take this beyond a codeshare and co-ordinate schedules and fares on a number of routes from Western Europe via Doha to certain cities in Australia which are Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Perth.
London – Sydney is not included in the joint business as BA serves this with its own aircraft, at least for now. Approval was sought before the outbreak of COVID-19, which is likely to have a significant impact on BA’s route network and timetable in the medium term.
Regulatory approval will take effect from 29 May 2020 and will last until 29 May 2025.
Whilst in theory regulatory approval allows BA and Qatar to co-ordinate schedules on these routes, it is unlikely we would see BA flying to Australia via Doha. The main driver behind this is for BA to take advantage of Qatar’s network to Australia from Europe and for Qatar to take advantage of BA’s distribution network.
The new joint business does not seem to disturb BA’s existing codeshares to Australia via Asia with Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines and Qantas.
Qantas Airbus A350-1000 Aircraft CGI Image (Image Credit: Airbus / Qantas)
Qantas has postponed indefinitely plans to order aircraft capable of flying from London Heathrow to Sydney non-stop.
Project Sunrise was the name given to one of the most hyped aircraft tenders by an airline in history.
After receiving bids from Airbus and Boeing Qantas had selected an ultra long-range variant of the Airbus A350-1000 as its preferred aircraft. Qantas was due to confirm its order with Airbus by the end of April 2020 to secure delivery of aircraft by 2023.
This project has now been postponed indefinitely. That is not to say it won’t ultimately happen. Qantas viewed the ability to operate non-stop flights between Europe and Australia as a significant source of competitive advantage. Its rivals in Asia and the Middle East do not have the traffic rights and European airlines do not have the inclination to operate a small sub-fleet of ultra long-haul aircraft. Like all airlines, Qantas simply doesn’t know how long it will take for demand to recover and what restrictions will be remain on international travel.
Qantas Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Great Southern Land (Image Credit: Qantas Airways)
In a little under six months Qantas will launch direct flights from London Heathrow to Perth. If the route is a success it will herald the start of a new era in aviation with direct flights to Brisbane and Sydney likely to follow.
Preparations for the launch moved a step closer this week as Qantas first Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner arrived in Sydney bearing the name “Great Southern Land”. Whilst Qantas is a little late getting on the Dreamliner bus, the airline is seizing the opportunity to reassert itself in international travel.
Qantas’ Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner will operate on scheduled international flights on Melbourne to Los Angeles from Friday 15 December 2017. London Heathrow to Perth to follow on Sunday 25 March 2018, by which time Qantas will have four Dreamliners in its fleet. As is par the course for new aircraft types, Qantas will operate the Dreamliner on selected domestic flights in Australia for crew training and familiarisation purposes.
Qantas has released final images of its economy, premium economy and business class cabins on the 236 seat aircraft. There is no first class cabin on this aircraft.
Qantas Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner (Image courtesy of Qantas Airways)
Following the news today that Qantas is to fly direct from London Heathrow to Perth from Sunday 25 March 2018, Qantas has also confirmed it is to also withdraw its service from London Heathrow to Melbourne via Dubai, operated with the Airbus A380.
Instead, passengers wishing to travel between London and Melbourne courtesy of Qantas can either fly on an Emirates codeshare service with a change of aircraft in Dubai.
At the time of writing return fares (including a Saturday night stay) near to launch are in the region of £1,260 for economy and £4,231 for business class.
Last year Qantas gained huge worldwide publicity with the promise of non-stop flights between London and Perth, operated by the Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner. With a flight time from London Heathrow of 15 hours and 45 minutes, this will be the longest non-stop route from London. The airline has since also mooted the possibility of non-stop flights between London and Sydney in appoximately five years’ time with either new long range Boeing or Airbus aircraft.
This week’s Australian Financial Review magazine carries an extensive feature on Qantas. It is well worth a read. Much of the feature focuses on the work Qantas is doing to prepare for non-stop flights between London Heathrow and Perth.
These flights are due to go on sale in April 2017 in advance of the route’s launch in March 2018. Whilst Qantas is still keeping some details under wraps, such its new premium economy seat, it has given the AFR some insight into its preparations for the new route. Specifically, Qantas is looking at the whole “ultra long-haul” in flight experience. This includes the design and timing of in flight meals, cabin lighting and in-flight announcements.
Qantas Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner (Image courtesy of Qantas Airways)
Qantas Airways is to launch a new direct non-stop route from London Heathrow to Perth in Western Australia from March 2018.
This is the first scheduled non-stop direct link between Europe and Australia.
There have been non-stop flights between Europe and Australia in the past, but only as one-off charter flights with a significantly lighter weight.
At a distance of 14,498 kilometres and a fight time of approximately 17 hours, this will be one of the longest “ultra long haul” non-stop flights in the world. This is a time saving of 3-4 hours on one stop services.
Qantas has yet to announce the exact departure and arrival times of the flights and flights will not go on sale until April 2017. If Qantas is to use departure slots from its existing Heathrow portfolio a departure time of around either 12 midday or 10pm is likely.
