Tourism Australia’s managing director Phillipa Harrison hailed the Qantas non-stop flight from Perth to Paris as an industry game-changer. Photo: Supplied.
Time-space compression is now a reality – our global village is shrinking – and we are more connected to people on the other side of the planet than ever before.
The world of air travel is briskly transmuting as long-haul flight gains momentum. This was evidenced by Qantas’s first-ever direct Australia-France flight, which took off from Perth for Paris on Bastille Day – 14 July, 2024. What an amazing aviation accomplishment! In fact, this new direct flight marks the return of Qantas-operated services to the French capital for the first time in 20 years.
A metamorphosis is in progress in the world of air travel, precipitously driven by innovative technologies, new demographics, destinations and fresh motivations for undertaking memorable adventures.
With the launch of this ultra-long-haul route comes universal attention on Paris for two weeks as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad get underway on 26 July. The international multi-sport event will mark the 100th anniversary of the return of the Olympics to Paris. Paris first hosted the Games in 1900 and then in 1924. The French capital will become the second city to host the Olympics three times, after London (1908, 1948 and 2012).
Speaking from Paris, Tourism Australia’s managing director Phillipa Harrison hailed this Qantas non-stop flight as a game-changer.
“It gives international travellers the opportunity to fly direct from the heart of Europe to Australia,” Ms Harrison said.
“We know time and distance is one of the biggest barriers we face when it comes to attracting holidaymakers to Australia. So, flights like this, which remove stopovers and wipe at least three hours off the total flight time, are crucial for the Australian tourism industry.”
Flight time for the Perth-Paris trip was 17 hours 20 minutes and the distance was 14,264 kilometres.
Qantas flight attendants with the Member for Perth Patrick Gorman, Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson (centre) and Tourism WA chair Di Bain at Perth Airport for Qantas’s first-ever direct Australia-France flight, which took off from Perth for Paris on 14 July, 2024. Photo: Supplied.
Presently, travellers have plenty of ways to fly non-stop to Australia’s western gateway. Qantas already has direct seasonal services from Rome to Perth, which launched in 2022, and London to Perth, which have been operating for some time. As well, Qantas is working on new ultra-long-haul routes as part of Project Sunrise, which will link Sydney directly to London and New York over the next couple of years.
According to Ms Harrison, all this aviation development helps arrivals, which are continuing to track in the right direction.
“In May, we were 90 per cent compared to the same month in 2019,” she said.
”Most arrivals were from New Zealand, China, South Korea, Singapore, the US, UK and India. Whilst France has never been our largest source market for visitor numbers, it has long been an important high-yielding market for Australia.
”And positively in May, arrivals from the market were actually greater than pre-pandemic levels and at 106 per cent.”
After talks with industry representatives, Ms Harrison said French operators were positive about what this new flight meant for Australia and she looked forward to working with them to grow French visitations even more in the coming years.
The Eiffel Tower, in Paris, France, is one of the world’s most iconic monuments. It never fails to impress. Photo: Supplied.
“A large portion of our French traveller is a working holidaymaker – and in fact, it’s the second-largest source market – after the UK,” Ms Harrison continued.
“This year marks 20 years of Australia’s Working Holiday Maker arrangements with France, and in that time we have welcomed more than 330,000 French travellers as part of the scheme. And this year has been a bumper year with 28,000 working holidaymaker visas issued in this market. If you hear more French accents around Australia, that’s why!”
Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said the national carrier’s return to Paris followed the success of its non-stop services into Europe.
“There is a lot of excitement amongst our customers and crew that Qantas is returning to Paris and that it’s a non-stop flight between Perth and Paris,” Ms Hudson said.
“In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in customers wanting to fly direct on long-haul routes and avoiding stopovers wherever possible. 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.”
The new route will see an additional 75,000 seats between Australia and Europe each year. Flights will initially operate four times a week over the busy European summer before moving to three services weekly from mid-August.
