Year of Qantas’ London–Perth service brings major benefits to Australia

The world’s third-longest commercial flight helped to drive more than one million visitor nights spent in Western Australia

On 24 March 2018, Australian airline Qantas marked a huge milestone in the aviation industry. For the first time in history, it launched the operation of a non-stop flight between Perth — the capital of Western Australia — and London.

For the occasion of the one-year anniversary, Qantas Group’s CEO Alan Joyce released a report showing what the unprecedented London–Perth service has accomplished. Among other sources, he cited the results of an independent analysis conducted by Deloitte Access Economics.

According to the report, the flight helped to facilitate a $72 million (A$101 million) increase in spending by visitors to Western Australia. Passengers reportedly spent $1.64 million (A$2.4 million) passing through the Perth airport alone.

One year later: Perth-London exceeds expectations… and speed records.
Find out more: https://t.co/TEtENBME02 pic.twitter.com/VxjjH3hSnM
— Qantas (@Qantas) March 25, 2019

With 71 per cent of international visitors on the route choosing to stop over in Perth, the connections helped to drive more than one million visitor nights spent in WA.

The new service also directly and indirectly supported the creation of 601 full-time jobs, particularly in the tourism and hospitality sector.

The success of the connection might improve chances for the Qantas London–Sydney non-stop flight to become reality.

“Almost every flight is full and it turned a profit almost immediately”

Joyce said: “There were a lot of expectations around this flight, both within Qantas and the broader community, and frankly it’s exceeded them.

“A year of operating this route shows that a hub in WA connecting Australia to the world works really well. We have people coming from the east coast to join the flight and it’s made it a lot easier for people in Europe to visit Australia.

“Almost every flight is full and it turned a profit almost immediately, which is rare for new services because they have start-up costs and it normally takes time to build demand.

According to the report, just under 60 per cent of passengers on the London–Perth leg are from Australia while UK residents make up the majority of overseas passengers at 31 per cent.

Qantas has seen a 30 per cent increase in the total number of passengers travelling between Australia and London via Perth — including a seven per cent increase in visitors from the UK.

The 17-hour-long connection is the third longest in the world and the only direct flight that connects Australia with Europe. It closely follows the flight from Doha to Auckland which was recently overcome by the currently longest commercial flight from Singapore to New York.