14 March 2018 (UPDATED 21 March 2018 to include info about Air Mauritius upgrade and Etihad downgrade) © David Eyre

There have been a number of recent media articles on potential new or upgraded international services to Perth.

Here is a summary of what has been reported so far.

New international services

Buenos Aires (Argentina) & Singapore

Norwegian Air Argentina, established as a subsidiary of the fast-growing low cost carrier Norwegian Air, has applied for regulatory approvals to a number of international destinations from Argentina.

It has proposed a world-first service linking Asia with South America, flying from Buenos Aires (Argentina) to Singapore service, with a stop at Perth en route.

The service, if launched in a few years time, would likely use Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

The airline has already gained regulatory approval for the Buenos Aires to Perth route, and is applying for rights to Singapore.

Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam):

In March 2015, Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport announced that it planned services to Perth from Vietnam by 2020.

Vietnamese people currently have a number of restrictions on travel out of Vietnam, so they do not visit WA in significant numbers. However, there is a relatively large population of Vietnamese migrants living in Perth, ranking 11th in terms of migrant population size.

Vietnam is also an increasingly popular destination for Australian tourists.

In December 2017, a Vietnamese Government trade delegation visited Perth and said that flights between Perth and Vietnam are under consideration.

Honolulu (USA):

Hawaiian Airlines is considering Honolulu – Perth direct services, using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

London (UK):

Qantas starts the world-first non-stop services from Perth to London Heathrow on 24 March 2018, using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

Qantas-operated international flights will start operating from Terminal 3 at Perth Airport from that date. This excludes Qantas codeshare flights on other airlines, such as Emirates, which continue to operate from Terminal 1 International.

Paris/Frankfurt/Berlin/Rome:

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has stated that direct flights to these cities are under consideration, using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, from around 2020.

Manila (Philippines):

Philippine Airlines previously operated a service between Manila and Perth via Darwin from 3 June 2013 (flight PR219/PR220), but this ceased on 2 September 2013.

In that year, Perth Airport reported that passengers to and from the Philippines had grown by more than 15% each year for the past five years, and that the Philippines is now the 12th most popular international destination to and from Perth. More than 36,000 Philippine nationals visited Western Australia in 2012.

In July 2014, Philippine Airlines President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said that PAL will restart services between Manila and Perth, this time with direct flights four times per week using leased Boeing 757-200 aircraft. However, since then, the air traffic slot allocations originally scheduled to start from 27 October 2014 were withdrawn. The service was to operate daily, with PR216 arriving in Perth at 04:50 and PR217 departing Perth at 05:50.

Philippine Airlines have new Airbus A321neo aircraft which being delivered this year, and the airline was considering converting some of these orders to the longer range A321neoLR, which would be needed for direct Manila-Perth flights. However, no formal plans have been announced.

Mumbai(India):

In March 2018, the Western Australian Government announced it is in talks with airlines in India about direct flights to Perth.

State Tourism Minister Paul Papalia said Tourism WA is currently negotiating with an Indian airline, and a WA Government delegation will visit India to encourage local airlines to fly to Perth.

Possible contenders include:

• Air India, using its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft;
• Jet Airways using Airbus A330-200 or -300;
• IndiGo using Airbus A321neo LR or widebody aircraft which they are planning to order; or
• Vistara, using widebody aircraft they plan to order

Western Australia experienced a 30 percent increase in Indian visitors in the year to September 2017, and the largest source of international students for Perth is India.

A direct flight to Mumbai would likely be feasible, and take nine-hours from Perth.

Currently, most passengers flying Perth to India have to fly via a hub airport such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok.

Shanghai (China):

China Eastern, China’s second largest airline, and the 7th biggest airline in the world, is considering a trial of direct services from Shanghai to Perth from October 2018.

Tokyo (Japan):

In late 2017, a delegation including Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan, Tourism Minister Paul Papalia and Perth Airport CEO Kevin Brown visited Japan to negotiate for direct flights between Perth and Tokyo.

Two airlines are considering daily services, Japan Airlines and ANA (All Nippon Airlines), both using Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Upgraded services

Doha (Qatar):

On 15 December 2017, Qatar Airways announced it is upgrading its daily Perth service from Boeing 777-300ER to the Airbus A380 from 1 May 2018.

This will operate until November, when it switches back to the Boeing 777-300ER during the northern hemisphere Winter period (which requires less capacity), then should resume A380 services.

The A380 new-generation 517-seater aircraft contains a three-class configuration of eight seats in First Class, 48 seats in Business Class and 461 in Economy Class, resulting in a 45% capacity increase, adding almost 116,000 additional seats to the route, with more than 7,000 passengers travelling between Doha and Perth every week.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We have seen continued demand and increased appetite for travel among the Western Australian market since we started flying this route from July 2012.

“We are delighted to be deploying our iconic A380 aircraft on the Perth route from 1 May 2018. When travelling to some of Western Australians’ favourite European cities including London and Paris, Perth passengers can henceforth enjoy a seamless inflight experience onboard our A380 aircraft on all legs of their journey.”

Jakarta (Indonesia):

On 2 February 2018, Garuda Indonesia and Perth Airport announced an additional weekly flight to to Jakarta, using 162-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft, increasing the current GA724/GA725 services from four per week to five per week.

This is a 25% increase in capacity between Perth and Jakarta, or an extra 16,848 two-way seats each year, or a total for all five services of 84,240 seats per annum.

Perth Airport CEO Kevin Brown said “Indonesia is already Western Australia’s 7th largest inbound visitor market, and it is continuing to grow. In the 12 months ending September 2017, there was an increase of 9.3% in visitor numbers to Western Australia from Indonesia so we know there is strong demand for extra flights.

According to Tourism Research Australia, visitors from Indonesia injected $59 million into the Western Australian economy in 2017, and on average spent about $2,000 each.

Mauritius:

Air Mauritius released a new timetable on 18 March 2018, showing that it will upgrade its Perth services from the current Airbus A330-200 / A340-300 to the new Airbus A330-900neo from 14 December 2018 (except during 12 January 2019 – 27 February 2019).

The aircraft are being leased from Air Lease Corporation (ALC), replacing two A340-300E aircraft whose leases will expire in November and December 2018. The A330-900neo consumes at least 20% less fuel than the current A340-300 enhanced aircraft, and will be configured with 291 seats (28 business and 263 economy class seats), new inflight entertainment systems, and onboard WiFi.

Singapore:

On 22 February 2018, Singapore Airlines announced that it had chosen Perth Airport as the first Australian destination for its new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft.

Singapore Airlines is upgrading one of its four daily services (SQ215/SQ216) from the current Airbus A330-300 to the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, effective 9 May 2018 (subject to regulatory approvals).

The use of the Boeing 787-10 will add another 38,000 seats annually to Singapore Airlines’ Perth-Singapore route.

Perth Airport CEO Kevin Brown says “Singapore is an incredibly important market for Western Australia and is currently our third largest in-bound tourist market.

“Singapore Airlines has a long and proud record of linking Perth with Singapore – a relationship which has delivered benefits for more than 50 years.”

Downgraded services

Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Etihad is downgrading its Abu Dhabi – Perth services from Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners back to the previous Airbus A330-200 that it used on the route until 1 June 2016.