Granite PR's Aberdeen - Perth WA Gateway Event - Interview Qantas Airways - Pauric Gallagher

Why are events like this important and what opportunities do they present?

Yeah well this is our second Aberdeen to Perth gateway event that we've sponsored off the third in the series and last year Qantas launched direct services from London Heathrow to Perth which was the first direct flight between the UK and Australia, and for us we've seen great support from the Aberdeen community travelling to Perth using that direct service which is the first of its kind. For us to meet with individuals that have initially taken the flight, and also for those that are looking to open up offices in Perth over the coming year, and it's a great opportunity to explore some of the mutual benefits that we can offer to those companies here in Aberdeen.

What are the main features or advantages Qantas’s new planes offer?

We took delivery off Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft for the first time at the end of 2017 and what that allowed us to do was open new routes like the London to Perth direct flight. The Dreamliner is 20 percent more fuel efficient than any other aircraft in our fleet which allows us to do those distances which are longer than you would expect for a normal aircraft. So, the Dreamliner aircraft is configured with 236 seats onboard, maximizing comfort and a service for everyone that takes that direct flight from London to Perth. What it means is people can get between places like Aberdeen and Perth, do business, be at work the following day and also it just takes away that transfer experience that many people don't wish to do. Since we launched the flight on the 25th of March last year we've seen record customer satisfaction ratings for that flight, it's the highest rate advice on our international Network and it's also a full flight every day. We're seeing load factors of 91% and 94%in the premium cabins so we're getting really good feedback from our passengers that have tried the service. The great thing is we're seeing those passengers come back, use a service a second and third time and connect the two cities of Aberdeen and Perth.

With the success of Qantas’s direct route from London to Perth, will there be new routes opening in the future?

Yes, so we're working on a mission at the moment called ‘Project Sunrise’ and that's to launch direct passenger services between the UK and the east coast of Australia by 2023. So our ambition is to do places like London-Sydney direct, Sydney-New York direct and we believe that in the next five years we can get the aircraft that can do that length of journey. We're working with the aircraft manufacturers at the moment that can operate that route and we've also said that we'd like to open up new routes into Perth in Australia, so places like Paris and Frankfurt are possibilities for us as we take delivery of more Dreamliner aircrafts over the coming years- so there's definitely room for opportunity to grow out of the UK and indeed out of Europe.