The past week has been a massive one at Qantas. The carrier announced when the Perth – London flight would take-off and then a few hours after that, tickets went on sale. The overall reaction from the public has been mixed, many are excited to see Western Australia finally have long-haul flights from Qantas and are excited to try out the 787 and others are not so enthusiastic about the new service and would prefer flying via Dubai or Asia.

Since the announcement, the airline has said they are looking at more options, mostly in Europe. Rome, Paris and a few other destinations were rumoured.

An interesting article from Perthnow explains that Perth – Paris could be the next 787 route to be announced. Here’s what they say:

QANTAS’ next nonstop flight will be Perth to Paris starting late next year, according to airline insiders, as analysts say the Boeing 787 Dreamliner services from WA will be a game changer.

The second destination from Perth will be launched with the delivery of the second batch of four 236-seat Boeing 787-9s from the middle of next year.

Here’s what the route would look like on a map, courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.

So does the 787-9 have the range for Paris?

Qantas’s 787-9 could, in fact, have the range for Paris from Perth. The Perth – Paris leg is 8,863 miles which equals 14,263.62 kilometres. According to Qantas, the maximum range with a full payload of their 787-9 is 14,489 kilometres/9008 miles. That would mean it would almost be running on fumes if it was fully booked. (not really, just a saying ;))

To compare, Qatar’s Doha – Auckland flight comes in at 9,032 miles/14487.31 kilometres which is currently the world’s longest flight but will be beaten by Qantas next year once London starts.

I’d say the flight would be between 16 and 17 hours, similar time to the London flight but it depends on a number of factors. Could you see yourself sitting in slimline Economy seats for 16 hours+?

Qantas’s New Economy Class

Ultimately we don’t have any confirmation on whether this is true or just #fakenews. It’d be interesting to see if Qantas do go ahead with Paris but is the demand for Paris there?

I would like to see maybe Asia or the United States get some Dreamliner action.

Do you think Qantas could launch Perth – Paris or is it a no go?