Qantas Boeing 787-9 Aircraft VH-OJA Arrival, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, Friday 15 November 2019 (Image Credit: Qantas Airways)
Qantas has completed a non-stop flight from London Heathrow to Sydney Kingsford Smith airport.
A Qantas Boeing 787-9 aircraft departed London Heathrow at 06:09 GMT / 17:09 AEDT on Thursday 14 November 2019 and arrived in Sydney at 01:28 GMT / 12:28 AEDT on Friday 15 November 2019. The total flight time was 19 hours and 19 minutes. This compares to around 22 hours and 35 minutes for Qantas’ one-stop service from London Heathrow via Singapore.
The Boeing 787, registration VH-ZNJ, named Longreach – a town in Queensland where Qantas traces its origins – bears a special livery to mark the forthcoming Qantas Centenary.
Qantas Boeing 787-9 Aircraft VH-OJA Pre Departure, London Heathrow Terminal 3, Thursday 14 November 2019 (Image Credit: Qantas Airways)
This flight departed with 52 passengers and crew including four operating pilots and six operating cabin crew.
Qantas Boeing 787-9 VH-OJA London Sydney Operating Crew, London Heathrow Terminal 3, Thursday 14 November 2019. (Image Credit: Qantas Airways)
This flight is the second of three test flights Qantas is conducting as part of its research into “Ultra Long Range” flights to Australia.
Qantas has used these test flights, operated by factory fresh Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, to trial service routines and test the impact of ultra long-range flights on passengers and crew. On this particular flight, passengers ate supper shortly after departure from London.
Qantas Singapore First Class Lounge Reception (Image Credit: Qantas)
Qantas has announced it is to open a new First Class lounge at Singapore Changi airport.
The airline has operated a joint business and First Class lounge at the airport since 2013. It used to operate separate business and First Class lounges jointly with BA, before the airlines decided to operate separate lounges.
It is to begin work a new First Class lounge in April 2019 and the new lounge is expected to open in late 2019. The new lounge will have seating for 240 customers.
Lounge features will include a cocktail bar, a la carte pre-flight dining and shower rooms. Qantas will work with its long standing chef Neil Perry and designer David Caon to design the lounge.
Qantas will also expand its existing business lounge to increase overall lounge capacity for 800 customers.
This does reverse a trend for Qantas to open joint business and First Class lounges, where it has also done at Hong Kong and London Heathrow Terminal 3.
This news does highlight the importance of Singapore to Qantas. It has this year reinstated flights from London Heathrow to Sydney via Singapore. It has also reinstated a former codeshare with Air France from Singapore to Paris and recently announced a new codeshare with KLM to Amsterdam.
Bar, Upper Level, Qantas Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal 3 (Image Credit: London Air Travel)
A relatively rare visit to London Heathrow Terminal 3 afforded us the perfect excuse to check out Qantas’ recently opened lounge in London.
At the outset, our review comes with one significant caveat.
Qantas has just two flights from London a day. One at 11:55 and another at 20:45. Alas, we were not flying to Australia so our visit was between these flights. The lounge was virtually empty. Indeed, at times there were more staff than passengers!
Whilst this was a great opportunity to enjoy a very quiet and peaceful lounge in a busy terminal at a very busy airport, we’re unable to judge how effectively it operates at peak times before Qantas flights leave Heathrow.
Also, some services, namely a la carte dining on the ground level, were not on offer at the time of our visit.
The lounge itself is easy to locate. Once you have cleared Fast Track security in Terminal 3 simply walk straight through the passenger waiting area and the lounge entrance is straight ahead. Lounges in Terminal 3 are assigned a letter for signage and navigation purposes. Qantas is Lounge B. The Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and American Airlines lounges are a short distance away.
This lounge, like Qantas lounges in Singapore and Hong Kong, operates as a combined lounge for first and business class passengers. Arguably, this benefits business class passengers more.
Qantas London Heathrow Lounge (Image Credit: Qantas Airways)
Qantas has officially opened its new lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 3. The lounge opens to passengers on Wednesday 29 November 2017.
Designed by Woods Bagot the lounge is split over two levels and features:
– An at seat dining area with a la carte menus – Hot and cold buffet food – A marble cocktail bar, overlooked by a brass chandelier – A separate gin bar – An all day barista coffee service – A “Quench” hydration station with tisane, fruit infused water, sparkling water – Six shower suites
As you can see from the pictures and video below wood and marble feature extensively throughout. Whilst Qantas lounges outside of Australia are relatively few and far between this is a typically high quality addition.
The lounge is open from 8am to 8.30pm daily. Passengers flying business and first class on Oneworld airlines are eligible to enter the lounge as are Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald cardholders. Qantas Club members and Emirates Skywards Platinum and Gold customers are also eligible.
Qantas London Heathrow Lounge (Image Credit: Qantas Airways)
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.
The changes were announced today as Qantas and Emirates are to extend their partnership for a further five years. However, due to regulatory reasons Emirates will not be able to codeshare on Qantas operated services from London to Singapore and London to Perth.
Qantas Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner (Image courtesy of Qantas Airways)
Qantas announced its annual financial results in Sydney today. The airline posted a healthy profit before tax of AUD$1.4bn. This is a sharp turnaround in fortunes for Qantas after it reported a record loss of AUD$2.8bn three years ago. Much of the turnaround has been achieved through a restructuring of its international network.
In Europe, Qantas suspended twice daily services from London Heathrow to Sydney via Singapore and Bangkok and to Melbourne via Singapore and Hong Kong in favour of daily services to Sydney and Melbourne via Dubai under a joint-venture with Emirates.
Whilst Qantas seemed to be in retreat in Europe having ceded much market share to the “Big Three” Middle Eastern airlines (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways), its interest has reignited of late. Qantas is due to launch non-stop flights to Perth in March 2018. Qantas is also due to open a new lounge in London Heathrow Terminal 3 this year.
Qantas has also today given a firm expression of interest in launching non-stop flights between London and Sydney by 2022.
Qantas has tasked aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to produce new aircraft under development, the Airbus A350 Ultra Long Range and the Boeing 777X respectively, with sufficient range to operate London to Sydney non-stop with no restrictions on passenger loads.
Qantas claim that a non-stop flight between London and Sydney could shave four hours off the journey time.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce commented:
“From next year we’ll be flying direct from Perth to London, which is a huge leap forward. We believe advances in technology in the next few years will make Sydney to London direct a possibility and Qantas is well placed to be the airline to do it.
“Any aircraft purchase would have to meet strict financial thresholds, but these direct flights would be revolutionary for air travel in Australia.”
Airlines do not ordinarily give away commercial decisions on route launches away years in advance, and this is a very public message aimed squarely at aircraft manufacturers to sharpen their pencils.
It is also axiomatic that the viability of non-stop flights from London to Sydney will depend on how non-stop flights to Perth are received, both in terms of cabin comfort and whether passengers, particularly those at the front of the aircraft, are willing to pay a premium for non-stop services.
Personally, we would love to see non-stop flights to Sydney and for Qantas to rebuild its presence in London back to four flights a day.
Also today, Qantas announced a refurbishment of its Airbus A380 fleet which will include new business class and premium economy cabins and “refreshed” First Class and economy cabins.
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.
Qantas Boeing 787-900 Premium Economy Seat (Source: Qantas Airways)
Qantas has today unveiled its new premium economy seat which is due to operate on Qantas’ non-stop Boeing 787-900 flights between London Heathrow and Perth from March 2018.
At the time Qantas announced the launch of non-stop flights between London and Perth it kept details of its premium economy seats under wraps, whilst hailing it as revolutionary. Today Qantas has unveiled the seat and some aspects of the premium economy cabin design.
