Yahoo Finance Sydney direct to London and New York: Qantas flights departing soon
It will soon be possible to fly directly from Australia to Europe, and Qantas is purchasing 12 new planes for the long-haul journeys.
By 2025, passengers will be able to fly non-stop from Sydney and Melbourne to cities such as New York and London.
Non-stop flights from New York and London to Sydney will take around 19 hours each, subject to wind and weather conditions.
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The 12 new Airbus A350-1000s will be reconfigured so passengers remain comfortable throughout long flights.
The planes will have a “wellbeing zone”, roomier seats and even a self-serve snack station.
More than 40 per cent of the seats will be in premium cabins.
‘The ‘last frontier’ in travel
The airline has been flying direct from Perth to London since 2017.
It will start with flights from New York and London, with plans to introduce non-stop flights to Australia from destinations such as Paris and Frankfurt in the future.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce called the long-haul flights “the last frontier” for air travel.
“It’s the last frontier and the final fix for the tyranny of distance that has traditionally challenged travel to Australia,” Joyce said.
“Our direct Perth-London flights started in 2017 and showed strong demand for the convenience and time savings from this kind of travel if the product and service is right.
“Pre-COVID, it was the longest route on our network and had the highest customer satisfaction on our network. All signs point to that demand increasing, post-COVID.”
The airline has been conducting research flights since 2019 along these long routes to make sure they are safe for passengers.
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