For the first time, Qantas Airways operated a direct flight on June 22 between Perth Airport (PER) in Western Australia and Rome's Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO).
It is Qantas' first nonstop connection to continental Europe, and the new route will operate three times per week.
With nonstop flights from Perth to London's Heathrow Airport (LHR), Australia's national airline already provides a direct link from Australia to the United Kingdom.
Due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions, these flights were put on hold in 2020, however they just started flying again in May.
Currently, Qantas is the only airline that offers nonstop flights between the UK and Australia.
The Qantas Dreamliner's flight lasts 16 hours and 45 minutes and covers 9,008 miles.
These routes are a forerunner of Qantas' Project Sunrise, which has been long debated and involves flying passengers directly from Sydney and Melbourne, both of which are on Australia's east coast, to London, Paris, and New York City.
What is Project Sunrise from Qantas?
By the end of 2025, Qantas plans to launch ultra-long-haul flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Europe and North America under the (relatively cool) moniker Project Sunrise.
Although Qantas does offer U.K. services to Adelaide, Brisbane, Broome, Darwin, as well as Melbourne and Sydney, in addition to Perth, all of these flights require at least one stopover (adding a varying number of hours to passenger journeys).
Regarding the United States, several airlines provide direct flights to Sydney and Melbourne from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and other places, but none do so from New York or the East Coast.
The Project Sunrise route has previously been tested: In November 2019, Qantas operated a historic test flight, the QF 787-9, from New York to Sydney.
On a Friday at 9:27 p.m., QF 787-9 departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), and on a Sunday at 7:43 a.m., it arrived at Sydney Airport (SYD).
According to the captain of the aircraft, it traveled more than 10,000 miles and was in the air for 19 hours and 16 minutes.
Notably, the jet took off with the least amount of passengers and personnel on board and the highest quantity of fuel possible.
In conclusion
While Project Sunrise construction is still ongoing, Qantas has opened a new Perth-Rome route in the interim.
This amazing trans-Atlantic flight is the first nonstop service between Australia and Europe.
Despite the fact that the pandemic effectively put a stop to all travel in 2020 and 2021, Qantas revealed in a May release that it had bought 12 A350-1000 aircraft from Airbus and stated that Project Sunrise is anticipated to commence in late 2025.
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