Australian-headquartered travel agency Flight Centre says it has seen a “huge” amount of interest in Perth ahead of the maiden direct flight between London and Perth.
The 14,498-kilometre service, which departs for the first time from Heathrow on Sunday March 25 on board a Qantas Dreamliner, will take 17 hours.
It will be the first direct flight between Europe and Australia, and the quickest route between the countries. Passengers have the option to continue on to Melbourne.
Flight Centre, which has 80 UK stores, says it has already sold enough seats to fill one and a half Qantas 787 Dreamliners before the flight has launched.
Head of aviation Justin Penny said: “The new route has already prompted a huge amount of interest for destinations that previously would have until now taken more than one stop to reach in Australia, such as Alice Springs and Broome. It truly has opened up the whole of Australia to the UK market.
“Flight Centre definitely feels that long-term the new route is viable and we will see additional services being launched from Europe to Australia in the coming years.”
Globally, Flight Centre sells more than 1.3 million tickets to and around Australia every year.