Qantas Flight Makes Maiden Non-Stop Voyage From Perth To London
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Anyone who's flown from the UK to Australia or vice versa will tell you how agonisingly long the flight is.
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With a stopover somewhere in the Middle East or Asia like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hong Kong or Singapore, the flight time from Perth to London is usually around 20 to 21 hours - which is a long time when you're cramped down the back in Economy.
Well, the game has well and truly been switched up, with Qantas launching a non-stop flight between the two cities.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner took off from Western Australia's capital today and will arrive in sunny ol' England at 5am tomorrow. The journey will now take around 17 hours.
Obviously, this has its positives and negatives.
| Pros | Cons |
| Quicker flight | It's a long fucking flight |
| No need to go through security again | No chance to properly stretch your legs and breathe normal air for a bit |
| You might get a new seat away from the crying babies | You might get a new seat next to a crying baby |
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: "This is a truly historic flight that opens up a new era of travel. For the first time, Australia and Europe have a direct air link," he said.
"The route between Australia and London was originally dubbed the 'kangaroo route' for the seven stops it made over four days in 1947.
"Now we can do it in a single leap."
To be fair, it is a pretty revolutionary step forward in terms of air travel. It will be interesting to see whether Qantas makes a move to use the Dreamliner to go the other way and make a non-stop flight from Sydney to New York City.
Aviation consultant John Strickland has told the Evening Standard: "It will be a further test of how successful airlines can be with ultra-long-haul flying and whether this delivers sufficient profitability to justify the investment in aircraft.
"Qantas will certainly be hoping to attract a higher proportion of premium customers due to the speed advantage combined with the 787's better cabin atmosphere."
Not only will the journey to and from the UK be shorter, but the Dreamliner aircraft itself is better than its competitors. It apparently has softer cabin noise, larger windows, better air quality and more advanced technology to reduce the impact of turbulence.
This could well be the future of air travel, but we'll have to see whether people are keen to sit in a seat for that long.
