VAH Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd

Australia's flag carrier, Qantas Airways Ltd., said Sunday it will begin flying directly between Perth and London in 2018, a route that will be one of the longest in the world and the first regular nonstop service between Europe and Australia.

Qantas plans to use new 787-9 Dreamliners from Boeing Co. on the Perth-London route, ending months of speculation over whether the airline would use the new planes to fly directly between the two continents. Qantas, which also operates budget carrier Jetstar, expects to receive its first Dreamliners for its full-service Qantas brand next year.

The approximately 9,000-mile flight between Perth and London will take about 17 hours and Qantas expects it to be the third longest flight in the world when it first takes to the air. Air India currently operates a New Delhi-San Francisco flight and Qatar Airways will begin a Doha-Auckland service next year.

"This is a game-changing route flown by a game-changing aircraft," Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said in a statement. "Australians have never had a direct link to Europe before, so the opportunities this opens up are huge."

Australia is experiencing a tourism boom, driven largely by visitors from China, but nonstop service to Europe could increase growth. A week ago, Australia and China reached an agreement that removes capacity restrictions on passenger flights between major cities in the two countries.

Qantas currently flies to London from Melbourne and Sydney, with a stopover in Dubai. A senior spokesman for Qantas said there are no immediate plans to change those services, though the arrival of the Dreamliners could result in changes to the flight network over time.

"Dubai will remain an important hub for onward services into Europe on our partner, Emirates," the spokesman said.

Qantas began the so-called Kangaroo Route between Australia and the U.K. in 1947, when it took four days and nine stops, according to the airline. In 1989, it flew a Boeing 747-400 between London and Sydney, a bid to highlight the aircraft's range and establishing a new world distance record for a commercial plane.

Tickets for the Perth-London route will go on sale in April 2017, and service will begin in March the following year.

Sunday's announcement comes as Qantas tries to maintain momentum from a 2016 fiscal year that it said was its best on record. It reported net profit of about $1 billion Australian dollars (US$745 million) reflecting a significant turnaround from just two years ago when the company made a massive loss amid an intense price war with rival Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd.

Still, in the first quarter of the 2017 fiscal year, the three months that ended Sept. 30, it said group revenue declined 3% as competition on international routes lowered airfares.

Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 11, 2016 21:05 ET (02:05 GMT)

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