Qantas’ Perth to London nonstop route is an aviation success, as airline announces record profits

The 17 hour and 20 minute flight between the UK and Australia is the highest rated service on the Qantas network

The last few years have seen The Flying Kangaroo go from strength to strength (istock)

The Australian airline Qantas has today announced pre-tax profits of A$1.6bn (£905m) for the 2018 financial year.

This is a 14 per cent increase on last year and 5 per cent higher than in 2016.

The 98-year-old national carrier broke records in March this year when it launched the UK’s longest nonstop scheduled passenger flight from London’s Heathrow to Perth.

Covering 9,000 miles and taking 17 hours, the route has been an aviation success story and is the highest rating service on the Qantas network.

Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, told The Independent: “The customers love it and the seat factor that we’ve had on that service since it started in March is at 92 per cent, with the premium business class at 94 per cent; an amazing performance for a new operation.”

Qantas reported a load factor – the measure of how full flights are – of 84 per cent. This compares favourably to a 2018 worldwide average load figure of 81.7 per cent, according to Forbes.

Non-executive employees are also set to feel the benefit of the company’s profits, with A$67m set aside to reward 27,000 staff members with a bonus of A$2,500 each.

This news will be particularly welcome following the “Qantas Transformation” programme of 2014 which resulted in 5,000 jobs being slashed as part of a cost-cutting exercise which aimed to reduce significant company losses.

Today’s announcement said that company debt is “below the low end of our preferred range and return on invested capital for the Group was well above target".

Qantas’ London to Perth route misses out on the title of the world’s longest nonstop flight by a whisker; the current record holder is Qatar Airways’ flight from Doha to Auckland, which clocks in at 9,025 miles.

The new route broke records last month, however, when one Perth to London flight took just 16 hours and 23 minutes, 10 minutes shorter than the previous record, and one hour shorter than its estimated time of 17 hours and 20 minutes.