Over the past weekend Australia’s flying Kangaroo launched its first ever direct flights between the Victorian capital and Dallas, Texas. The highly anticipated new flight route complements the highly popular Sydney to Dallas route and comes in at an impressive 17.5 hour journey on the inbound return service from Dallas making it is the world’s fourth longest or Qantas’s second longest route(according to distance at 14,472km).
What is truly staggering is the the sheer length of the flight means it is almost neck and neck with Qantas’s QF9 between Perth and London for travel time with the former with a scheduled travel time of just 10 minutes longer meaning on any given day it is possible for this flight to outlast the former. The service is also notable for breaking the record barrier for longest ever commercial flight to be operated out of Melbourne Airport.
The flights are the first by any airline connecting the two cities with Qantas confident they will strongly complement there direct flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles and increasing total seats between Victoria and the United States by over 6000 a month.
Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David said in a press release that the new route was a win for local travel and tourism operators and for the large number of Victorians wanting to travel overseas.
“We’ve already seen a great response to these flights since they went on sale, not just from those wanting to visit Dallas, but for travelers wanting to take advantage of the excellent connections to popular destinations like Orlando, Miami and Boston”.
“As one of the biggest hubs in the United States, Dallas/Fort Worth is located less than a four-hour flight from every major city, connecting travelers to over 200 destinations across North America with our airline partners”.
“New routes also open up new opportunities to bring more visitors to Australia. Around 40% of bookings on this route are people coming from the US directly into Melbourne and this will have flow-on benefits for local businesses. We’d like to thank the Victorian Government and Melbourne Airport for their support and collaboration in getting this route up and running.”
Melbourne Airport CEO, Lorie Argue said: “Qantas’ new service to Dallas will be the longest route ever flown out of Melbourne, and the fourth longest in the world.
“This is the first time Victoria has had a non-stop connection to a North American city that’s not located on the west coast, and will help provide local travelers and exporters with faster and easier access to much of the continent, while bringing more international tourists to Victoria.
For passengers eager to get on board the new service the outbound flight from Melbourne (QF21) will be taking off Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Saturday at 2pm ahead of 12.45pm same day arrival into the Texan superhub. Those flying back to Melbourne on the return QF22 service will be wheels up out of Dallas-Fort Worth at 7.10pm on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings for a 5.45 am arrival into Melbourne 2 days later. From March 2023 the timetable will adjust however with the flights to be operated on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The service will operated by Qantas’s long-haul workhorse the Boeing 787-900.
