http://www.airlinerworld.com 45and before the new intercontinental
flights began Joyce had already said that
direct routes tended to stimulate new
travel demand by making it easier
to get to a destination. He added
that this factor would benefit the UK,
Western Australia’s economy and
Australian tourism more broadly. He
predicted the route would make Western
Australia a new tourism gateway for
Australia, noting: “We know from our
research that there’s a lot of appetite to
explore the West, not just from British
and European visitors but also from
Aussies on their way to London. A lot
of business travellers, particularly in the
resources sector, will stop off in Perth on
their way to the UK.”
Inbound travellers from other
Australian cities can connect to
London via Perth and both Qantas and
the tourist board are certainly hoping
for a surge in passenger stopovers
within Western Australia.
The Proof of the Pudding...
Many of the passengers on the first
Perth-London-Perth sectors were
onboard specifically to take part in
this aviation milestone, but those who
thought they were on just another
flight were soon made aware of the
significance of the journey ahead.
The lead-up to the first Perth depar-
ture received considerable media
coverage as CEO Joyce and the other
VIPs checked in for their flight. Some
of those travelling to the UK on QF9
had begun their journey in Melbourne.
All on board still had another 17 hours
ahead of them. Some faced another
potential ‘discomfort’ factor because,
in late March, an 18:45 departure and
an expected 05:05 arrival in London
meant their entire journey was made in
the dark.
To greet the weary travellers upon
arrival in London, the Qantas PR team
had assembled a line-up of British and
Australian stereotypes including a
Beefeater, Guardsman, Aborigine and
of course, a cuddly kangaroo. The press
event started at 05:40 and it seemed as if
every member of Qantas’ London-based
staff must have been there to cheer their
crew and VIPs as they emerged into the
Arrivals area at Heathrow’s Terminal 3,
and why not; to my mind something
special had been achieved.
Then the press interviews began,
initially involving some of the firstinbound passengers to emerge, followed
by more with the flight crew and VIPs
from the airline and Western Australia
tourist board. Asked if other aircraft
types had been considered for the new
non-stop services, Joyce told Airliner
World: “The fuel burn involved
eliminated other [aircraft types] from
the route. We looked at using a 777-200;
we evaluated using an all-business class
aeroplane at one stage and we also
considered flying the A380 from Perth
to London but this [787] business case
was the only one that worked.”
He continued: “It was two years in the
planning. We announced it 12 months
ago and it has taken the last year to get
the facilities in place; essentially a new
terminal at Perth, to get our domes-
tic connectivity right. There have been
thousands of our people involved [in
the direct flights project] and it’s a great
success story.”
The flight deck crew for the first Perth-
London service comprised Captain
Lisa Norman, Captain Jeff Foote, First
Officer Dave Summergreene and
Second Officer Troy Lane. By this
August, the two captains will each
have clocked-up 29 years of service
with the Australian flag carrier. Asked
about their duties from a scheduling/
crew slip pattern point of view they said
there was “no difference at all” from the
other long-haul Qantas services, with
Captain Norman adding: “Our Dallas-
Sydney flights are [scheduled at] 17hrs
5mins while this flight today was 17hrs
9mins, so there’s no real difference
except that we are crewed out of Perth
and London.”
She explained that she had led the
direct flight project “for many years”
and, referring to her fellow captain,
said she had picked Jeff Foote for the
inaugural: “because of his many years
of experience and expertise with all
things coming up through Europe.”
The flight deck crew had a little over 48
hours’ rest in London before operating
QF10 back to Perth on March 27.
Now it was my turn to check in for the
first Heathrow departure. I was
in the cheap seats and I must admit I
approached this journey with a certain
degree of trepidation. I don’t mean
I was clutching a Bible or anything
like that – I had complete faith in the
Dreamliner and in Qantas’ crews as they
were already proven over similar
distances. For example, the airline’s first
two 787s were introduced on the afore-
mentioned Melbourne-Los Angeles
route from December 2017, and the
arrival of its third and fourth aircraft
provided the capacity to add the
London-Perth-London service from
March 2018.
Nevertheless, despite being excited to
be taking part in this historic event, the
advertised 16-17 hours was still a long
time to spend in the economy seats,
even in a state-of-the-art aeroplane.It seemed as if every
member of Qantas’
London-based staff
must have been there
to cheer their crew and
VIPs as they emerged
into the Arrivals area...Though culturally signifi-
cant, the London-Perth
route is not the longest in
the world – that accolade
is held by Qatar Airways’
Doha-Auckland service.First announced by Qantas
in December 2016 as a
Boeing 787-9 service, tickets
went on sale on April 27,
2017; almost 12 months in
advance.