Qantas Airways will begin a new non-stop flight from Australia’s capital to Britain’s capital, which will be the first ever of its kind.
The first QF9 flight will leave Perth Saturday 24 March at 18:45 local time. The journey will take 17hours and there will be no stopovers or changes on the flight.
When the first Australia to Britain flight was launched, there were “seven stops and the trip took four days,” Alan Joyce Qantas CEO said at a launch event on Friday.
She also said, “And back then it cost you £525 to use the service. The equivalent of two and a half years of your salary today. Tomorrow they will do the flight in 17 hours and 20 minutes. No stops. It is a game changer for Australian aviation.”
Advances in aeronautics such as the manufacture of more fuel-efficient aircrafts have made the new route possible. The journey is set to be one of the longest in the world and it will be a historical aviation achievement.
The crew will operate the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for the 9,000-mile (14,500km) inaugural flight, which is set for landing in London at 5.05am on Sunday.
Joyce made it clear that the route is not suitable for all customers and that the route will be aimed at “premium” fliers.
She said, “People want to get to their destinations without stopping. The big driver for passengers is they save time: on Perth to London it is three hours. With a bigger focus on premium passengers, we think we can make the economics work.”
The move is part of the Qantas’ ‘Project Sunrise’ where Joyce challenged Boeing and Airbus to design an aircraft that can carry passengers on a 20-hour flight.
By Airport Pickups London