In 1947, at the opening of the " Kangaroo Route "by the Australian carrier Qantas between London and SydneyIn the past, it took four days and nine stopovers to reach the destination. In 2018, it will only take a few 5 p.m. to join theAustralia since theEurope with the launch by Qantas of a new non-stop linking London to Perthin Western Australia. The aircraft will be a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with a very long range, which will cover the entire 14,498 kilometres between the two cities. The route will become one of the longest in the world, on a par with the Dubai-Auckland route. Emirates or the future Singapore-New York route.
In an interview with the British press, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce pointed out that ". Australians have never before enjoyed a non-stop service to Europe. The opportunities offered by this route are enormous" he said. Alan Joyce hopes to attract travellers from Europe and all over Australia to connect to Perth, in either direction. With two daily flights scheduled to start in March 2018, Qantas also hopes to transform Perth into a a mini hub between Europe and Australiapartly stealing the show from Singapore or Dubai. From Perth, it takes three hours and twenty minutes to get to Melbourne, and just over four hours to get to Sydney. Above all, Qantas will be able to offer fast, multiple connections to a dozen Australian cities such as Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra, as well as to the United States and Europe. New Zealand.
Perth currently only represents 14% on average - equally with Brisbane - of the traffic flow between London and Australia, far behind Sydney (35%) and Melbourne (26%).
If the route proves a success and the Qantas mini-hub in Perth takes shape - without cannibalising the A380 routes between Europe and Sydney or Melbourne, with a stopover in Dubai - the Australian national airline could open at least a second European route. The choice would then be between services to Frankfurt, Paris or Rome, three cities that can save between 60 and 90 minutes' flying time compared with London. An opportunity worth exploring, even if the Europe-Australia market from these three cities is much weaker than from London. The airport authorities estimate that the route should nevertheless generate traffic of 150,000 passengers a year.
For its part, the State of Western Australia will also be carrying out the modernisation of the terminal Qantas in Perth. According to the Prime Minister, the region will invest $11.5 million (A$14 million) to upgrade Qantas terminal 3, which currently only has a domestic function. All international flights are operated from terminal 1, but the London route will be an exception for facilitate transfers Australia/Europe.
From here 2025a central zone incorporating public transport and a automatic shuttle linking all the terminals will be brought into service. A new international terminal will be built offering 20,000 m² of surface area. A commercial area with shops, offices and hotels will be integrated into the site.
28.5 million passengers within 20 years
Perth International Airport is Australia's fourth largest airport with traffic of 13.76 million passengers in the 2015/16 financial year, including 4.25 million passengers on international routes, just under a third of total traffic. Ultimately, the Perth hub expects traffic of 28.5 million passengers within the next 20 years.
The development of airlines in Perth is particularly important for the state of Western Australia. Perth has experienced a real boom over the last two decades, Western Australia being the centre of the country's resources in raw materials. As a result, Perth has almost doubled its population, from just over one million in the mid-1980s to nearly two million today. Geographically, Perth is the closest city to Asia, 3.5 hours from Bali and 5.5 hours from Singapore. Western Australia accounts for 48% of all Australian exports worldwide.
