Qantas close to announcing Perth-London direct Dreamliner flight

Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said that negotiations for the air carrier’s Perth to London service is almost close. He made the announcement on Thursday while unveiling the new seat configuration of the airline’s new fleet, the Dreamliner 787-9.

Once the negotiations are done, the 236-seat Dreamliner would likely be the jet to offer a non-stop service to London from Perth. In cutting down the seats from 270 to 236, Qantas wants to ensure passengers aboard the Dreamliner would fly the most comfortable plane in the air.

“This aircraft allows us to fly routes that we could only imagine in the past,” Joyce says. He adds besides the possible Perth-London direct flight, the Dreamliner would likely also fly the Sydney-Chicago or Melbourne-Dallas legs, The Australian reports.

Qantas is pushing for the Perth-London direct flight because Australia has never been connected with Europe with a regular passenger service, Joyce says. “We’re still in the midst of discussions and there is always to-ing and fro-ing on commercial discussions, but it’s such a great opportunity for Western Australia it would be a shame if we couldn’t close a deal,” he adds.

However, more comfortable trips also means less passengers, so the flying roo is likely making up for the less plane ticket revenue by increasing the excess baggage fees. Beginning Friday, Qantas would hike the fee by 75 percent.

The increase means the current rate of $40 for the first extra piece of luggage beyond the checked baggage allowance would go up to $70. For each subsequent piece, the current rate of $60 per piece would be adjusted to $90 per piece.

For excess weight for single luggage beyond 23 kilogrammes, Qantas would charge a $50 fee from $30, while pre-purchasing extra piece of luggage on domestic flights also goes up to $35 from $30, Sydney Morning Herald reports.

A Qantas spokeswoman says the hike in extra luggage fees was made after a review. Passengers who expect to exceed are advised to buy in advance an extra luggage allowance. She adds because of the airline’s very generous checked baggage limits in comparison to other airlines, only a very small percentage of flyers actually need to purchase additional baggage.