The planes, in June, took off the first direct flight from Italy and Australia to Corriere.it

The first – and at the moment the only – direct flight between Italy and Australia will take off in June. To confirm this in a note, Qantas Airways, which is betting on the resumption of travel, announced three weekly Sydney – Perth – Rome Fiumicino flights starting June 22 also to meet demand for the upcoming European summer season. The flights will be operated using the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in a configuration designed for extra-long flights that will reduce the duration by more than three hours compared to current flights. It’s currently a seasonal link, until October, Al . explains Corriere della Sera Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. News, they explain to Courier service Eligible sources, there will also be another novelty: the agreement between Qantas and ETA on part of the flights via joint agreements. Both carriers have yet to confirm the article’s publication time.

Italy’s role

The carrier believes it can also use the Italian capital as a hub to reach other destinations in the Mediterranean and southern Europe. In an official statement, Joyce explains that the pandemic is making non-stop flights between Australia and the rest of the world more demanded as we learn to live with the virus and its variants. Italy is for us the largest market in continental Europe for people visiting families and friends from Australia and we believe customers will love to travel straight to Rome to spend time with their loved ones or enjoy Italy.

Numbers

Since 2018, Qantas has been considering a direct flight between Italy and Australia. during a conversation with Courier service three years ago CEO Joyce emphasized that our country was in Qantas’s crossfire. Not only for business volumes (4.6 billion euros of imports from Italy at that time), but also for our compatriots who went to visit (for tourism, business or relatives) who in ten years moved from about 50 thousand to 75,500 ( + 51%). The press release states that the flights will be operational until October 6, 2022 and that Qantas will provide – thanks to a codeshare agreement with Ita Airways – flights from Rome Fiumicino to 16 European destinations including Athens, Barcelona, ​​Frankfurt, Nice, Madrid, Paris and 15 other Italian locations including Milan and Venice. Qantas has been affiliated with Oneworld and Ita Airways for at least twelve months to SkyTeam.

Distances

The distance that the Boeing 787 Qantas will fly between Perth and Rome Fiumicino is approximately 13,400 km. Those leaving Italy and intending to arrive in Sydney will have to stop in Perth and then travel another 3,300 km. The schedule includes flights departing from Australia every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, and departing from Italy every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Flight QF5 will depart from Sydney at 17.55 (local time), stop in Perth leaving at 22.20 (local time), arriving in Rome at 8.45 the following morning. Flight QF6 will depart from Fiumicino at 10.50am, arriving in Perth at 8.35am the next day and at 4.05pm in Sydney.

aircraft type

The Australian company is still trying to choose between Boeing and Airbus planes that will have to make non-stop connections between Sydney and Europe, but this does not mean that it also uses these planes for Italy since the market has lower route volumes between Sydney and Paris or between Sydney and Frankfurt. In any case, flights from June to October 2022 appear to look more for customers who live in Australia as well because at that time of year there is winter and Covid restrictions are lower for residents who want to get out of it for foreigners.