The Perth-Paris service will operate four times per week over this European summer, before the route settles into three flights per week from mid-August.
The new service has a flight time of 17 hours and 20 minutes and cuts around three hours from the fastest existing travel time between the two destinations.
The Qantas service is the longest flight to France globally and the service marks the first time Qantas has operated flights to Paris in two decades.
“In recent years we have seen a significant increase in customers wanting to fly direct on long haul routes and avoiding stop overs wherever possible,” said Qantas CEO, Vanessa Hudson.
“Our direct flights from Perth to London and Rome have some of the highest customer satisfaction on our international network.
“With these new flights, our customers can depart Perth in the evening and arrive in Paris in time to enjoy brunch overlooking the Eiffel Tower.”
Australia has only been directly connected with Europe since 2018, when the Perth-London route started – covering a distance of 14,498km, it was the third longest flight in the world at the time and had four pilots, operating on a two-on-two-off basis.
For business events, non-stop services are important in attracting international groups to Australia.
“We definitely see much stronger demand from markets that have got a one-flight option,” MCB’s chief executive, Julia Swanson, told micenet in March.
“If you can get there in one flight, it’s certainly easier and it just minimises any chance of disruption.”
The next major milestone for Australia’s aviation connectivity to long-haul destinations is likely to be the debut of Project Sunrise from Qantas, which promises direct flights from Australia’s east coast – between Sydney and London and Sydney and New York.
Although Project Sunrise was set to launch in late 2025, manufacturing delays on the Airbus A350s that will fly these routes mean the first aircraft are now set to be delivered in mid-2026.
Turkish Airlines also has non-stop flights between Melbourne and Istanbul in its sights, having launched one-stop flights between the two destinations earlier this year.
