Alan Joyce on Perth – The “game changing” western hub for Qantas. Paris and Frankfurt next non-stops

28 June, 2017

With the CAPA-ACTE 2017 Aviation and Corporate Travel Summit next week in Perth, CAPA recently caught up with Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to discuss all things Perth and what's next for the "Western Hub", including confirming plans for a daily Perth-Paris service - once the London route is fully tested.

During the discussion, Mr Joyce emphasised the benefits nonstop services between Perth-London will have, not only on the economy in Perth itself but across all of Australia, as the western hub is established.

Qantas' new Perth-London service is set to launch Mar-2018, operating using Boeing 787-9 equipment with a premium fitout. The 14,498km, 17-hour service will be the first regular commercial passenger service to link Australia with Europe nonstop.

Stopover passengers will stimulate tourism - and be ideal for corporates

Mr Joyce stated: "People have been very enthusiastic about the route as they feel it will be a lot easier and a faster way to get into Australia, ultimately boosting tourism. Local businesses will benefit from Australians stopping in the city and visitors arriving from the UK, using Perth as first stop into Australia."

The idea for Qantas is to build a "western hub" which will be a gateway into the UK and Europe. Mr Joyce is firmly convinced this will stimulate growth between Australia and the UK, especially for those organisations doing business in both countries. All other Australia cities already have good connections into Perth allowing them to utilise the Perth-London service.

"The other benefit, for our corporates (and a lot of Australians), is that they think this is a great way to get to Europe, with the stop off in Perth. Some of our business corporate accounts are saying that they have offices in Perth and will therefore make this as part of the trip before they go up to the UK. It kills two birds with one stone," continues Mr Joyce.

The new service is stimulating upgrades to Perth Airport

Perth Airport and Qantas are in the process of delivering upgrades to the airport, with plans to develop an integrated domestic and international precinct which will handle all Qantas operations.

The combined precinct allows Qantas customers to transfer from domestic to international services without changing terminals and includes: a new international wing comprising an outdoor area; immigration and customs area; food and beverage outlets; a duty free store; and an international transit lounge.

Also, in May-2017, Federal Minister for Finance Mathias Cormann announced the commencement of the AUD1.9 billion rail link project connecting Perth Airport's two terminals and the Perth CBD, due for completion in 2020.

There will be more Europe routes to follow

Mr Joyce also confirmed plans to operate nonstop services to cities in Europe other than London, stating: "We think there is an opportunity of expanding outside of London, in particularly to places like Paris and Germany. Paris we believe will have the rights to be able to daily from Perth. We have never had the rights to do that before. So the opportunity, if the London performs as well as we think, allows us to actually build up a bigger network and a bigger hub in Western Australia."

To hear more - much more - on this topic, from industry experts and key spokespeople, join us at the CAPA-ACTE Perth Aviation and Corporate Travel Summit at the Mercure Perth on 4-Jul-2017. Register your attendance here.