World's longest flight from London to Perth given green light

A flight that will take 17 and a half hours between London and Perth is set to become the world's longest non-stop passenger route.

The flight will be operated by Qantas in the airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliners, and look set to take off in March 2018. Tickets are set to go on sale in April 2017.

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It will be the first direct flight between Australia and Europe, and will be over 9,000 miles long. The service is set to run 14 times a week.

According to the Metro, Alan Joyce from Qantas said the company was close to making a deal.

He said: "Our customers, from Perth, are going to have a service that saves you three hours getting to London and from the UK getting here.

From Melbourne and Sydney and all other destinations in Australia, it will save you an hour going through Perth compared to Dubai or Singapore or other destinations."

The Guardian reports that The Western Australian premier, Colin Barnett, said: "Today's announcement is fantastic for West Australians with the non-stop service making travel to the UK more appealing, and over time it is expected it will open up the potential for direct routes to and from other European cities."

He added it would also allow people to check out Perth for a day or two "if en route to or from another Australian destination."