Qantas and mainland Europe *

On 22 June, Qantas flew direct from Perth Airport (PER) in Western Australia to Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) in Italy for the first time.

The new route takes 16hrs 25mins and flies three times per week. It is Qantas’ first non-stop link to mainland Europe, though Australia’s flag carrier also offers a direct Australia – UK route, with non-stop daily flights from Perth – Heathrow Airport (LHR) which launched in 2018 and has now returned.

There have been no other announcements of more routes to date, Rome being slightly shorter than Frankfurt or Paris.  Italians are said to be the second largest ethnic group in Australia.

Despite the pandemic putting a firm halt on overseas travel to and from Oz in 2020 and 2021, Qantas confirmed in a May 2022 announcement that they had ordered 12 A350-1000 aircraft from Airbus, and gave a loose date of ‘late 2025’ for the expected launch of what it calls ‘Project Sunrise’, non-stop Sydney – London and Sydney – New York.

www.qantas.com

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Andrew Sharp, St Albans

Probably because they realise that fuel consumption is worse than with a one-stop flight. You have to load enough fuel at the origin to land at the destination - and carry it all the way.

Bill Wantage, Southwark - London

Non-stop to Sydney. Just the job. But why not BA?