Non-stop flights London-Perth “within two years”?
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at 20:51 by LuganoPirate.
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AMcWhirterParticipantThis subject has been much discussed on the Forum over the past few years.
The general consensus is that it won’t happen because of the level of indirect flight competition and the fact that an insufficient number of passengers would be prepared to pay a premium fare for a non-stop service.
Now Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has revived the idea and he’s talking about the possibility of Qantas starting non-stop London-Perth flights in a couple of years’ time using new B787-9s, as reported in The Independent.
But will it ever happen ?
Who can predict the price of oil in 2017 let alone the level of indirect flight competition that would threaten a direct, non-stop service ?
Qantas would surely have to equip the route’s B787-9s with different onboard accommodation. After all, which economy class passenger would wish to sit for 18 hours in tight 3-3-3 seating ?
Many if not most business people are bound for Sydney or Melbourne rather than Perth so that means it would still be just as quick (when heading to Australian cities other than Perth) to stay with the likes of BA (for Sydney) or Emirates/Etihad/Qatar or SIA.
So all in all an interesting idea but one that’s unlikely to happen.
http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/102134/qantas-to-fly-b787-9-from-perth-to-london
10 Oct 2015
at 15:51
LuganoPirateParticipantI think there could be demand for this flight Alex. When/if demand for commodities picks up Perth will again attract the mining crowd who fly via the’re to the western mines. There is also tourism and is a good starting point for the West – East crossing.
Also most of us prefer a direct flight and if there to be a change then get it over sooner rather than later. I detest the midnight shuffle at Doha for example but am quite happy doing it early evening at Zurich.
11 Oct 2015
at 05:58
MrMichaelParticipantNot sure a non stop LHR-Perth will fill a flight a day, maybe 3 or 4 a week. The longest current flight, Dallas – Sydney is six days a week. What we really need (or I want) is a non stop to Melborne or Sydney or even better Brisbane. I figure it would only be about an hour longer than Perth.
11 Oct 2015
at 08:50
LuganoPirateParticipantI think it would be nearer 3 hours MrMichael. The extra distance being about 1,600 miles. I don’t think there’s any aircraft that can do that distance yet.
11 Oct 2015
at 19:53
GivingupBAParticipantGreat Circle Mapper shows:
LHR- PER = 9009 miles
LHR- SYD = 10573 miles
LHR- BNE = 10277 miles11 Oct 2015
at 20:01
AlexthegreatParticipantTK at one point were looking at possibly introducing non-stop flights to Australia from IST and then claiming the first ever non-stop flight from Europe. As it all went silent, I guess their 777ER’s cant make it without payload restrictions?
12 Oct 2015
at 06:47
conshaldowParticipantI can also see there being demand for this route. However whether or not it would pull people away from EK/EY/QR/SQ and I feel it would depend on the arrival time in Perth. If any later than 2130 the late connecting QF flights onto Sydney would not be possible and the next flight wouldn’t be until 0530 the next day, leaving an uncomfortable 7/8 hour stopover which wouldn’t be great for the body clock.
Personally I feel these routes are well accommodated already by the likes of the aforementioned EK/EY/QR/SQ and I believe they actually provide a better service than would be present on a QF direct flight.
Still something I would like to see, not to mention test out personally. As they say, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
12 Oct 2015
at 09:04
rfergusonParticipantI’m just not sure the demand will be there as I imagine this would really be to target London-Perth/Perth-London terminating traffic as although there are many airlines serving Perth most are feeding via their hubs to hundreds worldwide destinations (ie EK via DXB, EY via AUH, SQ via SIN etc). A direct PER-LHR flight would only save time for those wanting to go direct to London (and maybe other UK cities). For the many travelling between Perth and other european destinations (as well as the mid east and Africa) it would still require a backtrack.
And with the big slowdown of the Western Australian natural resources sector which nearly all of the airlines serving PER are trying to target……
It’s quite a bold statement from QF considering most of the announcements regarding it’s PER operation has all been about scaling back – a few years ago there were QF longhaul departures to HKG/SIN/NRT. NRT and HKG were canned leaving SIN as the sole longhaul route. This was then cancelled leaving no longhaul routes at all from PER operated by QF. It has now reinstated it – but on a 737. So maybe this PER-LHR talk is more PR hype of what QF ‘could’ do with their 787’s.
Saying all that, I guess this is the exact kind of route that Boeing touts the 787 as being perfect for – ‘long thin’ routes. One thing is for an absolute certainty though – I would never EVER sit in the 3x3x3 cabin of a 787 for such a flight! It’s bad enough on a seven hour one.
12 Oct 2015
at 09:41
AMcWhirterParticipantThank you for the feedback.
Ultra long-haul flights would appear to be fashionable again judging by SIA’s announcement that it expects to fly SIN-NYC non-stop in 2018.
SIA is expected to have a different seating configuration on its A350-900ULRs when they enter service. Initially when SIA flew non-stop to the US some 10 years ago, its A340-500s had premium economy as a minimum (for economy class).
And so I would expect Qantas to do the same in economy class if its non-stop LHR-PER service ever gets off the ground.
13 Oct 2015
at 16:35 -
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