Qantas launches flight route between Perth and Paris

After the success of its Perth to Rome route, Qantas has unveiled a new gateway for Aussie travellers that’s never been flown before.

It’s bye-bye Perth and bonjour Paris.

For the first time in more than 20 years, Australia’s national carrier has started flying from Perth to France — just in time for the 2024 Olympic Games. And it’s the first airline to do so direct from the mainland.

Qantas officially set flight from our western shores, over the Indian Ocean and into France on Friday night and again on Sunday, after canning flights into Paris via Singapore all the way back in 2004.

The new route from Australia is yet another gateway into Europe without a layover.

With the airline actively expanding its grip on long-haul point-to-point travel into European nations, this 17 hour and 20 minute jaunt in the air is expected to be a hit with Aussies seeking a direct path into the lucrative Euro-summer season.

Speaking ahead of the airline’s second flight to the French capital, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson said having the flights out of Perth to Paris was “incredibly important” for the airline and the state of Western Australia.

“Perth is an incredibly important hub for us,” Hudson said, noting in years to come Perth will be the second biggest air hub in the country behind Sydney.

“After 20 years of not being in Paris, we are delighted to be back servicing France. This is the first time we will be serve France from Australia mainland. Passengers will be saving three hours travel time to the other routes that serve Paris.

“Perth to London has been incredibly successful for us, Perth to Rome is doing incredibly well. We are incredibly excised about what [Perth to Paris] will unlock.”

Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson is excited to launch flights to Paris for the first time in 20 years. Picture: Natalia Mroz/IATA

Officially, the route is a smidge shorter than the London path – making it the sixth longest commercial flight in the world, but also slightly longer than the carrier’s direct route into Rome that was launched just two years ago.

Using a Boeing 787 Dreamliners, the routes to Rome and Paris pave the way for the airline’s next great journey – the launch of Project Sunrise in 2026, which will see passengers fly non-stop for around 22 hours from Australia’s east coast to London and New York.

Ms Hudson said with the carrier bringing more long-range Dreamliners into the fleet, routes such as Paris and Rome were only the beginning.

“I would like to see us in more direct ports to the US,” she told news.com.au.

“Chicago, potentially with the new aircraft that are coming, we could get in to southern parts of the US and northern parts of South America. We will be ambitious to put our aircraft where we see the demand.

“It comes back to this trend we are seeing, where passengers are wanting to fly point-to-point and away from the midpoints, and the aircraft we have coming have the capability of flying more point-to-point.”

The flying kangaroo will travel to Paris direct from Perth. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

With now three direct services in to the UK and Europe, Hudson said time would tell if the demand was there for the long haul

“It’s early days,” she said, noting that both the inaugural flight on Friday and the second flight on Sunday night were not at full capacity.

“We are going to promote it [Perth to Paris], we are going to be working with Tourism Western Australia, but what we are seeing is very similar to Perth to London and Perth to Rome.”

To mark Qantas’ weekend of inaugural flights into Paris, passengers were welcomed on board with a distinct French flair in the air. In business class, flyers were greeted with champagne and a limited edition set of blue-and-red pyjamas, while the entire aircraft enjoyed culinary delights curated by chef Neil Perry.

In economy, passengers dined on beef bourguignon with green beans, carrots and potato mash while at the pointy end, guests on board started their journey with a niçoise salad followed by a bouillabaisse of snapper and Skull Island prawns and pithivier of chicken and tarragon with onion puree.

The first official flight between Perth and Paris kicked off on July 12, with the airline announcing the route will run four times a week before scaling back to three flights once the Olympics concluded in mid-August.

Qantas hope to expand their reach in to other ports around the world as more 787 enter the fleet. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Departing Perth at night and arriving into Paris just before 7am (yes, pass the cappuccino and a croissant) – the timing is perfect to get a good stint of sleep before having a full day in the French capital. Return flights leave mid-morning local time, before arriving into Perth around 8.30am.

For the airline, Paris opens up yet another gateway into Europe over the summer period, following the success of Rome in 2022.

According to Ms Hudson, who took over the reins as Qantas CEO from Alan Joyce last year, the non-stop link between Perth and Paris will add more than 75,000 seats between Europe and Perth each year – along with just shy of 40,000 passengers to come via Perth.

But the real treat for this new Aussie route is the easy connections it will give passengers to other European ports such as Barcelona and Frankfurt.