Passengers will be able to fly from London to Australia non-stop from March 2018 when Qantas launches its new service.
Australia’s national carrier says it will connect Perth, in the west of the country, to the UK capital using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The 9,000-mile flight will take 17 hours.
Qatar Airways, meanwhile, will be introducing a daily service from Doha to Melbourne using the A380.
The new service will commence, 30 June 2017 “to meet rising demand”, according to the airline. The service will boost capacity by 44% and Qatar Airways group chief executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “As we continue to grow apace in Australia, we have seen a clear need to inject additional capacity on the Melbourne service. We are delighted to introduce our A380 aircraft to Melbourne after seven years of operation to the world’s most liveable city.
“Our expansive European network provides plenty of homecoming options for one of Australia’s most culturally diverse cities, which is home to many families from European heritage including the United Kingdom, Italy and Greece.”
Melbourne is the original home for Qatar Airways in Australia, with the airline adding services to Perth, Sydney and Adelaide thereafter.
Air China is also to launch a new Melbourne to Shenzhen route direct four times per week from January 2017, while Virgin Australia will resume direct Melbourne to LA flight five days a week from April 2017.
The New Year moves come after Qantas launched a new daily direct flight between Melbourne and Tokyo (Narita) in December 2016 and Hainan Airlines launched a new flight from Melbourne to Xi’an and Changsha in November two times per week to each destination.
