The air carrier will offer 3 weekly flights between Rome Fiumicino and Sydney (with a stopover in Perth) operated with Boeing 787/900 Dreamliner – a new generation aircraft specially configured by Qantas to offer services dedicated to an extended stay on board – with a three-class cabin configuration and 42 seats in Business, 28 in Premium Economy and 166 in Economy, for a total of 236 seats overall.
For the first time in the history of civil aviation, it will be possible to fly directly between Australia and Continental Europe.
There will be a non-stop connection between Rome and Perth, the westernmost point of the Australian continent, in a flight lasting 15 hours and 45 minutes. Passengers from Rome will also be able to choose whether to continue on the same aircraft to Sydney or start their stay in Australia by visiting Perth ”, announces the joint note from Rome and Qantas Airports.
Rome will, therefore, be the first and only point in Continental Europe to be directly connected to Australia, as Qantas operates another direct flight but towards London. The choice of Fiumicino will allow Qantas to interconnect its passengers to the main European destinations, including Athens, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Nice, Madrid, Paris and 15 points in Italy such as Florence, Milan and Venice via Fiumicino, thanks to collaboration agreements with other partner airlines operating on the Roman airport. In this case, there is persistent talk of an upcoming interline agreement with the new Ita Airways.
“Since the borders have reopened,” said Alan Joyce, CEO of the Qantas group, “we have immediately encountered a strong demand from our customers to discover new destinations. The resumption of traffic and the demand for a greater number of connections following the pandemic has made direct connections to and from Australia even more attractive and desirable in a context in which we have learned to live with the virus and its variants.
“After the restrictions of the last few years, now is the ideal time for Qantas to reinvigorate its international network and explore new market opportunities.
“The new route will bring new visitors to Australia by strengthening the domestic tourism industry.”
“Australia enjoys a global reputation as a friendly, safe and attractive tourist destination, and by flying directly from Rome visitors will be able to experience the ‘Australian Spirit’ even before arriving.”
“With great pride,” said Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, “today we celebrate Italy as the landing country of the first ever direct flight from Australia to continental Europe. Rome and Italy thus give a great signal of confidence and recovery, confirming the attractiveness of the largest market in terms of volumes between Australia and Continental Europe, with around 500,000 passengers who flew between the two countries in 2019 with intermediate stop.
“This important milestone is the result of a long collaboration between Qantas and Adr with the support of national institutions and is only the beginning of a path that will strengthen the already relevant social and economic relations between Australia and Italy, facilitating the development of passenger and freight mobility in the near future.”
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