A watershed moment for the famed ‘Kangaroo-route’ was announced today when Qantas made clear its intentions to launch non-stop flights between the UK and Australia.
When the Kangaroo route first launched in 1947 it took four days to travel the route, with nine en-route stops.
Now, with its new new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, Qantas aims to cover the trip in roughly 17 hours without a single stop.
The route will connect London Heathrow Airport with Perth in Western Australia. This will be the first time a regular scheduled non-stop service has linked the two countries, and is likely to be a major boost for the airline in offering convenience to passengers, and another city on the Kangaroo route (Qantas presently serves Melbourne and Sydney from London, via Dubai) to choose from.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “A direct flight makes travelling to Australia a much more attractive proposition to millions of people. We expect many travellers from Europe will start their time in Australia with a visit to Perth before going on to see other parts of the country.
“Our modelling shows that people from the East Coast as well as South Australia would fly domestically to Perth to connect to our non-stop London service. Some will take the opportunity to break their journey, whether it’s for business meetings in Perth, to holiday or to visit family.”
Seats on the Perth-London flights will go on sale in April 2017 for the first services in March 2018. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners used on the route will carry 236 passengers across Business, Premium Economy and Economy cabins.
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