27 April 2017 © David Eyre

Qantas has confirmed a 24 March 2018 start date for its new Perth-London nonstop flights with the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, with tickets on sale from today.

The airline also announced the service will originate in Melbourne, replacing the existing QF9/QF10 Melbourne-Dubai-London route, which is currently operated by the Airbus A380. The new QF9/QF10 service will operate as QF9/QF10 Melbourne-Perth-London Heathrow using the Boeing 787-9, cutting journey time between Melbourne and London by one hour.

Qantas 787-9s will be configured to carry 42 Business class seats (1-2-1 across), 28 Premium Economy (2-3-2 across) and 166 in economy (3-3-3 across). This results in a reduction in Qantas capacity from Melbourne to London from the A380’s 484 seats compared to the 787’s 236 seats and the elimination of First Class seats on the Melbourne-Perth-London route. Emirates is already moving to fill the capacity void by upgrading its last remaining Boeing 777 Dubai-Melbourne services to an A380.

Schedule

The new service is the first scheduled nonstop flight between Australia and Europe, take around 17 hours to fly 14,499 kilometres, making it Qantas’s longest route, the Boeing 787’s longest route and the world’s third longest nonstop scheduled flight.

The flights will operate daily from Terminal 3 on the west side of Perth Airport:

Tickets on sale

Tickets for Qantas’ new service went on sale today. Return airfares are as follows:

• Economy fares start from $2,270 for Melbourne-London and Perth-London, but may drop below $2,000 during sale periods.
• Premium Economy fares start from $4,250 between Perth and London and from $4,450 between Melbourne and London
• Business fares start from $9,725 between Perth and London or $9,890 return between Melbourne and London.

Terminal 3 controversy

Terminal 3 is being upgraded with new facilities and lounges to accommodate Qantas’ international flights.

Qantas wanted passengers to use T3 for the services, to allow passengers a convenient transfer between its domestic and international services, rather than having to catch a bus between T3 and T1 International.

This created a dispute between Qantas and Perth Airport, neither of whom wanted to pay the multi-million dollar cost of terminal upgrades at T3, necessary to add a international/domestic ‘swing gate’ and add border control facilities. Perth Airport did not want to upgrade T3, as plans are for all airline operations to be consolidated at Airport Central (around T1). The airport offered financial incentives for Qantas to use T1 International, but the airline refused.

In the end, the Western Australian Government stepped in to contribute $14 million towards the cost of T3 upgrades. As part of the deal, Qantas agreed to move its operations to Terminal 1 at by 31 December 2025, pending terminal expansion and a commercial agreement.

The airline’s current international services from Perth to Singapore (Boeing 737-800) and summer flights to Auckland (Airbus A330-200) will also move to T3 from T1.

Terminal 3 was previously the site of Perth’s earlier Domestic/International, prior to Terminal 1 International opening in 1986.

Qantas Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner deliveries

Qantas has eight Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on firm order, with three due for delivery in late 2017 and a fourth in February 2018:

Qantas 787-9 Dreamliners will initially operate on domestic services within Australia, before commencing their first international services between Melbourne and Los Angeles from December 2017.

Melbourne-Perth-London services will start from 24 March 2018, after the third and fourth aircraft are delivered.