Tag Archives: flights to Australia

Non-stop Australia flights to become a reality?

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According to this news winging its way over from Australia, V Australia, which is the international arm of Virgin Blue, are expected to announce new non-stop flights to Perth from London in 2011.

This route would be the second longest in the world, with flight times of just 16 hours – a saving of 5 hours compared to the current shortest times, due to the fact that current flights to Perth need a change of aircraft. Even compared to existing sameplane flights to Australia, the non-stop service still offers a huge time advantage, as the routing is direct and there is no need to re-fuel.

This move will see the Virgin group continue its advancement as a truly pan-global company – although I hesitate to use the term ‘network’, since the airlines are each operated independently. An additional non-stop route between Sydney and New York will also be offered – another interesting development, as the majority of USA-Australia flights operate to west coast hubs such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.

It will be interesting to see what sort of fares are offered on this route – the economics of operating these ultra-long flights aren’t as simple as just finding a way to avoid an un-needed set of airport charges. For this type of flight, aicraft don’t just need extra fuel - they also need extra fuel to carry the fuel that they will need later on in the journey. For this reason, Singapore Airlines, which offers the current longest flight in the world between Singapore and New York Newark, operates a business-class only service, thus cutting down on weight.

Don’t fancy flying all the way to Australia? Why not go by bus?

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When I first read about Oz-bus.com, I thought that April fools day had come early. A long distance bus service running all the way from London to Sydney – someone had to be taking the xxxx!

But it turns out that the service is real – and that they will take you by bus as far as the prevailing conditions will allow. This should essentially mean an overland journey to Iran, a possible flight across the border into Pakistan and then again to get through Burma, and a final flight between Bali in Indonesia and Darwin in Australia – but the rest of the journey is exactly as it says on the tin, by comfortable long distance coach, apparently limited to 35 passengers per trip, so I would presume a little bit more roomy than your average scoot through London on a crowded #73 Boris-baiting bendy bus!

With a one-way journey starting at £4399, you are going to spend a lot more than a business class flight, but we think this journey is going to be more about what you see on the way than what you do when you get there, so for a three month trip, this works out at a very reasonable £50 per day, including breakfast and basic accommodation.

I’ll have to admit to being a bit ‘bussist’ myself. If I’m going to do long distance surface transport, I’d rather go by rail or sea – but given a choice between a professional bus driver and the company of a 35 strong group, or going by car, I’d still take the bus any day. Oz-bus also offer an eastbound journey to New York – via China and Alaska, and journeys through Africa, so it really does look like they are carrying on where Eurolines and Greyhound leave off. It will be interesting to see if this kind of travel ‘takes off’ (very lame pun I know) as people look for low-carbon alternatives to flying, and it will certainly be an indicator of the ability for different countries to stimulate cross-border co-operation. Iran, Pakistan and Burma might be problem areas for now, but how long before the Facebook generation catches up and reaches parts Heineken can’t reach! Twitter has certainly lead the way in Iran at least, so let’s see!