CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce, has announced the return of everybody's favourite ridiculously long flights, Australia to New York and Australia to London! Qantas, who flies directly to London from Darwin, takes a lengthy 17.5 hours. It might seem like a long time, but in return, you get one less connection, which means one less check-in, one less take-off, one less landing, and 3-4 hours more holiday!
Speaking yesterday, Joyce said, "Work has also resumed on Project Sunrise. Our latest customer research shows the demand for direct long-haul flights is even stronger than it was pre-Covid, so our focus on delivering non-stop services from Sydney and Melbourne to New York and London remains,"
Surprised that Aussies were so keen for the long flights, he added, "We can see it in practice in what we're doing at the moment, but we've done a lot of research of our customers and we find that there was a step change to the original business case and people's desire to fly direct, to where it is now," he said.
"We don't think that's a surprise, but we're probably pleasantly surprised at how much of a step change there was."
Where possible, Qantas is looking to cut out stopovers, getting travellers to their destinations faster.
"When we introduced (flights to) India again – to Delhi – we saw massive demand because people love to fly direct," Mr Joyce said.
"With the reinduction of our flights from Darwin to London, we saw massive demand again. It's our strongest performing service since the relaunch of the international operation in November."
