Qantas is to operate the first Australia – Europe services with Perth – London flights from March 2018.

The Australian flag carrier will use a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the route, which will be 14,498 kilometres and take around 17 hours.

It will be the longest Qantas flight, ahead of its Airbus A380 service between Sydney and Dallas at 13,730 kilometres.

Qantas chief executive officer, Alan Joyce says: “When Qantas created the Kangaroo Route to London in 1947, it took four days and nine stops. Now it will take just 17 hours from Perth non-stop.”

“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.”