Qantas culls direct London flight

A combination of headwinds and global uncertainty have led Qantas to temporarily scrap its direct Perth-to-London flight in favour of a service stopping in Singapore.

Tensions in the Middle East prompted the carrier to make what is likely to be a controversial change, removing one of its flagship services from the Perth market.

A spokesperson for the airline said it had little choice but to land the service in Singapore for refuelling because of a precautionary adjustment to its flightpath over the Middle East.

“We’re making some adjustments on some of our flight paths due to the situation in parts of the Middle East as a precaution,” they said.

“We will contact customers directly if there’s any change to their booking.”

No timeframe has been offered for a return to direct flights to London from Perth.

Curiously, the return London-to-Perth trip will continue to run direct.

Prevailing winds on the return leg mean less fuel is required to complete the trip.

Outbound flights to London previously operated under the QF9 flight number. The change will see the route’s flight number updated to QF209.

Direct services to and from Paris and Rome will continue to operate as normal in both directions.

Qantas’s Perth-London service started in 2017 but was suspended during the pandemic when travel was restricted.

The service was reintroduced ahead of schedule in May 2022.

Qantas said it monitored flights paths daily and made adjustments for a range of reasons, including security and weather.

The news comes on the same day Qantas revealed it planned to take back $9.6 million worth of incentive payments to its former chief executive, Alan Joyce.

Qantas shares fell 2.2 per cent to $5.84 per share.