Qantas eyes longer leap as it gears up for Perth-London flights

Qantas will use a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the Perth-London route.

Qantas hopes it will be able to fly direct from Sydney to London with new generation planes as it gears up to begin services to the British capital from Perth.

The Perth-London service will start next March and the airline says there is strong demand for 14,498km flight aboard its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

It is already thinking even bigger.

"Hopefully we'll be able to fly direct from Sydney to London - we do believe that aircraft technology is going to be our friend into the future," said chief executive Alan Joyce.

He told a media briefing on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association meeting in Cancun that the airline was talking to Boeing about the next generation of 777s and to Airbus about the ultra-long range A350.

Sydney to London is just under 17,000km and New York is just under 16,000km.
Joyce said other United States cities, Washington DC, Boston and Chicago would be opened up from Australia's east coast

Earlier this year the world's longest non-stop commercial flight touched down in New Zealand after leaving Qatar 16 hours and 23 minutes earlier.

The Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Auckland covered a total distance of 14,535 kilometres (9032 miles).

The plane flew across 10 time zones during the trip.

Gareth Evans, chief of Qantas International and Freight, said plane builders liked to deal with Qantas.

''We've been talking to them for a long time - they like to use Qantas particularly with the experience we've got with the long-range flying," he said.

''There's still a long way to go but we're very excited about the technology."

The Perth-London flight will take about 17 hours and will be one of the longest in the world.

The Boeing 787-9 used on the route will carry 236 passengers across business, premium economy and economy cabins.

Qantas flies a seasonal service from Auckland to Perth and Evans said year-round flights were a possibility.

''That's an option that's on the table for us - there are opportunities to connect New Zealand in," he said.

While it was quicker to fly eastbound to Europe from New Zealand it was faster to return flying from the west and over Australia.

Qantas will host the 74th IATA annual meeting next June in Sydney.

• Grant Bradley travelled to Cancun with the assistance of IATA and Air New Zealand.