Qantas 787 departs Perth for Rome to start landmark route

Qantas’ landmark first flight between Perth and Rome took off on Wednesday night – marking Australia’s only direct service to mainland Europe. The 787, VH-ZNF msn 36239, left the WA capital at 10:34pm as flight QF5 and is on course to land on Thursday at 7:24am local time. It comes weeks after Qantas launched the first non-stop flight between Perth and London. The popular UK route had been on pause since the beginning of the pandemic, with Qantas opting to shift the layover from eastern states headed to London from Perth to Darwin due to WA’s “conservative border policies”. Meanwhile, the airline’s QF1 route, which operates from Sydney-Singapore-London on the airline’s flagship A380 aircraft, resumed from 19 June — meaning Darwin will no longer operate as an entry or exit port for Qantas flights to London. Qantas also operates QF1 from Melbourne-Perth-London six times per week, with flights departing every day except Thursdays. The flight comes on the same day The West Australian reported Qantas was close to agreeing a new three-times weekly flight from Perth to Johannesburg.<br/>