Qantas reroutes Perth to London flights amid ongoing crisis in the Middle East

by AvioBlog · 15 Aprile 2024

With immediate effect, Australian carrier Qantas will operate its longest scheduled non-stop flight from Perth to London via Singapore Changi Airport for the foreseeable future. The change comes after the carrier decided to reroute the flight avoiding certain airspace regions in the Middle East.

Qantas operated the previously nonstop flight between Perth (PER) in Western Australia and London-Heathrow (LHR) with its 14-strong fleet of Boeing 787-9s. The route comes in at 9,101 miles (14,646 kilometers), which is the fourth longest airline route in the world, according to data from the aviation database Cirium.

Given that the route was already pushing the range envelope of the aircraft type used, the rerouting meant that the longer flight could no longer be flown non-stop. Although the stop in Singapore (SIN) only adds around 2% to the total journey distance on the new routing (9,186 miles), even with the necessary fuel reserves, a non-stop flight is no longer possible, according to the airline. This is also notwithstanding that the aircraft has a premium-heavy configuration, making it lighter overall than if it had a high-density economy class layout.

The westbound flight originating in Perth was taking around 18 hours to fly non-stop, depending on headwinds on the day of operation. The non-stop routing saw the flight depart Perth and cross the Indian Ocean, before passing over the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Turkey, and crossing mainland Europe before landing in London.

The new routing will add over four hours to the westbound flight, allowing for a 90-minute refueling stop in Singapore. However, given that tailwinds generally benefit the eastbound service departing London, the return service will continue to operate nonstop back to Perth.

Before the route changes were announced, the service operated according to the following schedule.

QF9 Perth to London: Depart PER at 06:30 and arrive LHR at 5:05 (+1 day).

QF10 London to Perth: Depart LHR at 11:55 and arrive PER at 11:40 (+1 day).

However, with the revised routing being flown, the new westbound schedule is as follows:

QF209 Perth to Singapore: Departs PER 14:25 and arrives SIN at 20:15.

QF209 Singapore to London: Departs SIN 21:45 and arrives LHR 05:05 (+1 day).

The new changes mean that those Qantas passengers originating in Sydney or Melbourne flying via Perth to London now face a two-stop service to get to their final destination. Having proved itself to be a popular choice of route for those traveling between Australia and the UK, the Singapore stop means that the Perth to London flight becomes less attractive to these passengers, considering that the airline also operates one-stop daily services from both Sydney and Melbourne to London using Airbus A380s (also via Singapore).

With the commencement of Qantas’ ‘Project Sunrise’ nonstop flights from Sydney to London having been pushed back in February 2024 from the end of 2025 until mid-2026 due to delivery delays of the carrier’s new A350-1000s, this latest announcement regarding its Perth to London flights means that there is now no non-stop Australia to UK flights for the time being.