Qantas plans to operate non-stop flights from Perth to London, the world’s first regular passenger service linking Australia directly to Europe in a move hailed by tourism groups Monday. The airline will use a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for the 17-hour journey, some 70 years after it first began flying to London on its “Kangaroo Route” which originally took four days and included nine stops. “This is a game-changing route flown by a game-changing aircraft. Australians have never had a direct link to Europe before, so the opportunities this opens up are huge,” said CE Alan Joyce. “It’s great news for travellers because it will make it easier to get to London. It’s great news for Western Australia because it will bring jobs and tourism. And it’s great news for the nation, because it will bring us closer to one of our biggest trade partners and sources of visitors.” The flight is one of the longest in the world and the longest on a Dreamliner and is set to be a boon for Perth. Tickets for the service go on sale in April next year, with the first flight scheduled for March 2018.<br/>
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American Airlines said higher average fares per mile have boosted its revenue and profit expectations for the fourth quarter, a day after rival United Continental also raised forecasts. Shares of top US airlines rose Friday, with American's up 4% and United's up 4.2%. American said Friday it expects Q4 unit revenue to range between a decline of 1% and an increase of 1%, compared with its previous forecast of a decline of 2.5% to 0.5%. Unit revenue compares sales to how many seats an airline flies and how far it flies them. The airline now expects pre-tax margin excluding items to be between 6 and 8%, up from its previous range of 5 to 7%.<br/>
It was a heartfelt journey before Christmas, a search for clues about loved ones who disappeared in a still unsolved mystery. The mission was a long shot, at best. But for several families seeking answers over the fate of relatives who perished aboard flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Mar 8, 2014, any effort is better than none. Frustrated by a lack of progress in official investigations into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, the families spent the past week in Madagascar, combing beaches. Fragments identified with "near certainty" as coming from the aircraft were discovered in recent months on the coast of East Africa, prompting the unorthodox search. Jiang Hui, a 44-year-old from China who lost his mother on the flight, has not given up hope of finding out why 239 people disappeared without a trace. "When I first found debris on Wednesday, I was very excited ... and very sad," he said, after a day that was both physically and emotionally gruelling. "Whenever we discover this kind of fragment, I think we are getting closer to the truth. This is what I want to hope for," he said, under a boiling hot sun. Neither the location nor the cause of the crash is known, feeding wild conspiracy theories. The families have covered parts of Madagascar on foot, by 4x4 vehicles and on quad bikes. And they have been accompanied by Blaine Gibson, an American amateur investigator who has also been trying to find out what happened to flight MH370. Over two days of searching, the team found debris on Nosy Boraha, an island off the eastern coast. After a discovery on the second day, a Malaysian woman who lost her husband onboard MH370, burst into tears. But such finds harden Hui's resolve. <br/>