The Kangaroo Route

On 25 March 2018 Qantas launched its first non-stop flight between mainland Australia and the UK.  Flight QF9 departed from Perth shortly after 6pm. It flew more than 14,000km in little under 17 hours before landing at Heathrow early the following morning. This remarkable feat was made possible thanks to the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The route between London and Australia, affectionately known as the Kangaroo Route, once took an exhausting 12.5 days including a train journey between Paris and Brindisi, Italy. Qantas eventually reduced the travel time to less than three days using a Lockheed Constellation.  This flight flew from Sydney to London with stops in Darwin, Singapore, Calcutta, Karachi, Cairo, and Tripoli (passengers stayed overnight in Singapore and Cairo).

Garry reluctantly agreed to give the Dreamliner flight a go as part of our annual business trip to Europe. Regular readers will recall that we meet once a year with key suppliers at major industry trade shows in late-January and early-February. This year we attended the London Toy Fair before heading across to Germany for the Nuremberg Toy Fair.  Our return journey saw us fly from Sydney to Perth, then on to London before flying to Nuremberg via a weekend stopover in Poland.

I flew my first Dreamliner in 2017 during a long weekend in New Zealand. At the time I was impressed by its larger than normal windows and the more refreshing cabin environment. The Dreamliner makes extensive use of carbon fibre in its construction. This material is lighter than aluminium, less prone to stress fractures and unaffected by moisture. 

Thanks to these innovations, the same volume of fuel can carry the aircraft further.  It also allows cabin pressure to operate at 6,000 feet (1,800 m) altitude instead of the traditional 8,000 feet (2,400 m). The higher pressure results in increased oxygen and humidity levels for passengers which go some way to reducing the effects of jet lag and dehydration on long haul flights. 

All in all the new route is proving a huge hit for Qantas. It says the flights are averaging a load factor of 94 per cent, a result well above the industry average. Currently, the average time of the Perth to London service is 17 hours and one minute, but one flight broke the speed record when it clocked in at 16 hours and 19 minutes. The average flight time of the return service is 16 hours and five minutes. However, a Dreamliner has managed to make it in 15 hours and 15 minutes.

Garry and I were incredibly impressed by the flight.  The new Qantas business class seat proved comfortable.  The service was impeccable.  The flight itself honestly didn't feel any longer than a regular long haul flight. Garry even went as far as to say he'd fly this route again.  This was high praise indeed as he'd originally declared to all and sundry that he'd only fly it once purely for the novelty factor.  I loved the experience.  Even the new International Transit Lounge in Perth was impressive.  Plenty of fresh air, healthy snacks and uber fast wifi that let us download lots of Netflix episodes before boarding our flight.

The arrival time of 5am is also ideal for getting in Europe.  It lets you transfer onto an early morning flight from Heathrow to any European destination and arrive there well before noon. Normally you'd end up losing the bulk of a second day to travel.  On this occasion, we stopped in London for 7 days. We also took advantage of the American Airlines Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow.  Our serviced apartment in Soho wasn't going to be available until after 11am so a stop at the lounge allowed to grab a refreshing shower, enjoyed a full cooked breakfast and spend a couple of hours relaxing before heading into town.

If you're curious, we flew back from Europe via the traditional Kangaroo route with Qantas via Heathrow and Singapore.  Garry was determined to try for another First Class upgrade on the Airbus A380. As luck would have it, our upgrades came through and we flew home in decadent luxury.