Qantas will on Saturday launch a daily service linking London and Perth, becoming the first non-stop regular link between the UK and Australia. Routesonline looks in more detail at what is set to become one of the world’s longest flights.
Routes Asia 2018, the only route development forum for the Asia-Pacific region, is taking place in Brisbane from 18-20 March 2018. Routesonline takes a look at some of the key statistics shaping the market.
Around two million passengers a year fly between Australia and the UK (O&D demand for 12 months to October 2016) and the famous Kangaroo Route has been one of the most competitive air corridors in aviation history with tens of airlines competing for traffic via various points across Asia and more recently the Middle East.
The carrier is set to take delivery of their first Dreamliner in less than a year, with the aircraft due in October 2017, but the big question remains – where will this aircraft fly?
The new Virgin Australia service between Perth and Abu Dhabi will also open additional connection options for passengers travelling to and from the capital of Western Australia, with direct connections to 23 European, 15 Middle East and 10 African destinations.
Etihad currently operates five 787-9s serving the markets of Brisbane, Washington, Singapore and Zurich from its Abu Dhabi International Airport hub. The type will become the UAE national carrier’s flagship long-haul aircraft in the coming years with a further 66 aircraft due to be delivered.
Australian carrier, Qantas Airways has confirmed it will boost its schedules on flights to Hong Kong and Singapore from next month to meet growing demand from both business and leisure carriers into these key international markets. The new flights will be introduced on the Sydney - Hong Kong and Perth - Singapore routes and will be facilitated by furthering its strategy on fleet utilisation.
The new link is timed to connect West Australian travellers to the airline’s USA, Canada and Argentina flights when it begins operating on December 11, 2015.
The airline is lobbying for an increase in air traffic rights which will give it the option of daily flights to Sydney and Melbourne as well as servicing Brisbane and Perth.
From June 26, 2015, the airline will operate five-weekly services between Perth and Singapore, with Boeing 737 aircraft, offering a total of almost 1,700 seats between the two cities.
Under the revised air services agreement, both countries’ carriers will immediately be able to operate 26,500 seats a week between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to the major gateway cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – an increase of 18 percent on the routes.
The deployment of the Super Jumbo will take effect from May 1, 2015 and will mean that alongside its partner Qantas, a total of seven daily A380 services will operate from Dubai to Australia from next summer.
Qatar Airways will boost capacity on routes from Doha’s Hamad International Airport to Madrid and Perth through increased frequencies on the route to Europe and the permanent deployment of a larger capacity airliner on the Australian link.
Air New Zealand and All Nippon Airways will both introduce flights with the Boeing 787-9 early next month, with Etihad Airways, Scoot, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways also due to the fly the new stretched variant of the Dreamliner before the end of the year.
The Star Alliance member has eight Dreamliners on order, all to be leased from International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). This includes six 787-8s due from this year (four in 2014 and two in 2015) and two of larger 787-9s, which will follow in 2017.
