Airliner World – May 2018

http://www.airlinerworld.com 43

Tom Allett

joined the

first direct

passenger

flight

between

the UK and

Australia

generation of airliners appeared. As

the new direct services illustrate, that

practice continues to this day.

At the moment, direct commercially

sustainable flights between Sydney and

Europe are still just out of reach; though

not for much longer. Qantas believes

that the future variants of the Boeing

787 and Airbus A350 will achieve this

by 2022. CEO Alan Joyce has already

predicted that date as the year of the

first direct London-Sydney services.

For the last year though, all the talk

has been about the Australian carrier’s

direct Perth-Heathrow-Perth flights.

Announced in December 2016 as a

Boeing 787-9 service, tickets went on

sale on April 27, 2017; almost 12 months

unlikely to notice it - is Perth’s gain

and this change marks only the second

occasion on which a Qantas service had

routed between Australia and the UK

without flying via Dubai (DXB) since the

airline signed a co-operation deal with

Emirates five years ago. That agree-

ment was extended immediately before

the first direct Perth service took place.

Debate

With flight times in the region of 17

hours northbound and 16+ on the

return, there is an ongoing debate about

whether passengers actually want to

travel for such extended periods without

having the opportunity to disembark

in advance. The new route involved

changing sectors of a Melbourne-

Dubai-London-Dubai-Melbourne flight

listed as QF9/QF10, that was previously

flown by an Airbus A380. Dubai’s loss –

although the Middle East giant is

direct Perth-Heathrow-Perth flights.

Announced in December 2016 as a Announced in December 2016 as a

Boeing 787-9 service, tickets went on

sale on April 27, 2017; almost 12 months sale on April 27, 2017; almost 12 months

in advance. The new route involved

changing sectors of a Melbourne-

in advance. The new route involved

changing sectors of a Melbourne-

Dubai-London-Dubai-Melbourne flight

listed as QF9/QF10, that was previously

flown by an Airbus A380. Dubai’s loss –

changing sectors of a Melbourne-

Dubai-London-Dubai-Melbourne flight

listed as QF9/QF10, that was previously

flown by an Airbus A380. Dubai’s loss – flown by an Airbus A380. Dubai’s loss –

unlikely to notice it - is Perth’s gain unlikely to notice it - is Perth’s gain

and this change marks only the second

occasion on which a Qantas service had

routed between Australia and the UK

without flying via Dubai (DXB) since the

airline signed a co-operation deal with

Emirates five years ago. That agree-

ment was extended immediately before

the first direct Perth service took place.

Debate

With flight times in the region of 17

hours northbound and 16+ on the

return, there is an ongoing debate about

whether passengers actually want to

travel for such extended periods without

having the opportunity to disembark

return, there is an ongoing debate about

whether passengers actually want to

travel for such extended periods without

having the opportunity to disembark having the opportunity to disembark

although the Middle East giant is

QANTAS

Qantas 787-9,

VH-ZND (c/n 63390)

was used to operate

the first nonstop

commercial service

between Australia

and Europe, which took

place during the night of

March 24/25. VICTOR PODY