Qantas considers shifting direct London flights from Perth to Darwin

Western Australia’s “conservative” border policies may see Qantas move its direct London flight from Perth to Darwin once international borders reopen.

The national airline says it expects its non-stop flight between the United Kingdom and Australia, first launched three years ago, to be in higher demand post-COVID.

Qantas is thinking about switching its direct London flight from Perth to Darwin.

Qantas is thinking about switching its direct London flight from Perth to Darwin.

A statement by Qantas on the potential re-start of its international flights said discussions were continuing around the route’s future.

“The airline is investigating using Darwin as a transit point, which has been Qantas’ main entry for repatriation flights, as an alternative â€" or in addition â€" to its existing Perth hub given conservative border policies in Western Australia,” the statement said.

Darwin has been used for repatriation flights from London and has a similar flight time to Perth of about 17 hours.

Qantas anticipated international borders could start opening by December â€" when states and territories reach 80 per cent COVID-19 vaccination rates â€" with places like the United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Canada, Fiji, and Singapore.

The company appears concerned, however, by what domestic border controls may still be in place given WA Premier Mark McGowan’s position of keeping virus cases in the community at zero and signalling he would continue to use partial lockdowns if deemed necessary, as allowed for in the four-phase national vaccination plan.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said on Thursday it was clear the rest of the world was starting to open up.

“Australia now also has a plan for re-opening. And based on that plan, we’ve reshaped our own assumptions about restarting international flights,” he said.

“The nature of COVID means we’ve had to change our plans a couple of times already. And we can’t rule out having to move them again.

“I know the prospect of flying overseas might feel a long way off â€" especially with New South Wales and Victoria in lockdown. Some people might say we’re still being too optimistic.

“But the current pace of the vaccine rollout means all Australian states are on track to reach the 80 per cent target by December â€" which is the trigger for starting to carefully open to some parts of the world.”

There were 166,965 England-born people living in Perth as of the 2016 Census which was more than the number living in Sydney even though the latter has a much larger overall population.

Peter de Kruijff is a journalist with WAtoday.

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