Qantas business class from the UK: nonstop to Perth, or the A380 through Singapore?

Qantas sells Australia from the UK in two shapes: QF10, nonstop London Heathrow to Perth on a Boeing 787-9, and QF1, London Heathrow to Sydney with a stop in Singapore on an Airbus A380. Perth is the only Australian city you can reach from Britain without landing anywhere else.

The Perth nonstop is not currently symmetrical. Qantas is flying Perth to London via Singapore for a fuel stop from 25 October 2026 to 31 January 2027, which adds roughly three hours to a trip of about 17. The nonstop is due back on 1 February 2027. London to Perth stays nonstop throughout, so a return booked for this winter is nonstop out and one-stop home.

If your real destination is Melbourne, Brisbane or Adelaide, Perth becomes a connecting point and you add a domestic flight across the continent. Whether that beats flying through Singapore to Sydney depends on where you are finishing, not on the headline nonstop.

Further out, Qantas has announced Project Sunrise: daily Sydney–London nonstop flights from October 2027 on the Airbus A350-1000ULR, going on sale in February 2027. Announced is not flying. For any trip before then, Sydney is one stop.

Unusually, Qantas flies essentially the same business seat on both of its London aircraft. That makes the choice between Perth and Sydney a question about routing rather than about the seat.

What neither aircraft offers is a door. If a closing business suite is on your list, Qantas cannot give you one from London before Project Sunrise.

That is changing. Qantas says the A350-1000ULR will carry 52 business suites with sliding doors, and that a redesigned business suite with a door is coming on 787-9s delivered from its 2028 financial year. Neither is flying today, and neither is scheduled on the Perth route yet. Judge the seat you can actually book, which is a good, open, aisle-access flat bed of a design that is now around a decade old.

Qantas sells First from the UK only on the A380 through Singapore. If you want First to Perth, there is no such cabin on the 787-9 nonstop.

• 14 First seats in a 1-1-1 layout at the front of the lower deck.
• Fully flat beds up to 213 cm (84 inches) with contoured cushioning.
• An 18-inch high-definition screen and in-seat massage.
• Access to the Qantas First Lounge at Singapore Changi during the stop.

The honest trade-off: First on Qantas buys you more space and a quieter cabin on a longer, one-stop journey. Business on the 787-9 buys you the only nonstop. For Perth, the nonstop usually wins; for Sydney, First is the only way to step above business on Qantas today.

Project Sunrise will add six enclosed First suites on the Sydney–London nonstop from October 2027. Until then, the A380 is the whole First story.

With one seat design across both aircraft, the Qantas risk is less about the cabin and more about the itinerary quietly not being what it looked like.

1. Check the stops, not the flight number. A single Qantas flight number can include a landing. QF1 stops in Singapore, and the current Perth–London return stops there too. Many booking sites show these as "direct" or zero stops. Expand the segments or look at the journey time: a real London–Perth nonstop runs about 17 hours.
2. Check each direction separately. Until 31 January 2027 the outbound and return to Perth are different journeys. A return that straddles 1 February 2027 may have a nonstop home; one that does not will not.
3. Check the sector beyond the gateway. A connection from Perth or Sydney to another Australian city is a domestic flight on a narrower aircraft with a different business seat. Ask what flies it.
4. Check which aircraft is scheduled if First matters. First exists on the A380 only. A schedule change or an aircraft swap would remove it.

"Direct" is not "nonstop". If a quote shows a Qantas flight to Perth or Sydney without stating where it lands, ask before you pay.

Qantas flies from London Heathrow and nowhere else in the UK. Both QF10 to Perth and QF1 to Singapore and Sydney leave from Terminal 3.

If you live outside the South East, the question is how you reach Terminal 3 and who carries the risk if you are late:

• A separate journey to Heathrow. Train, car or a separate flight gives you control of timing, but a missed departure is yours to solve. On a 17-hour nonstop, arriving the night before is sensible, not excessive.
• A connecting flight on the same ticket. A oneworld partner flight into Heathrow can be ticketed with the Qantas sector, so a late first flight becomes the airlines' problem rather than yours. Expect a longer overall day.
• A different airline from your own airport. For Sydney or Melbourne rather than Perth, a Gulf or Asian carrier flying from Manchester, Birmingham or Scotland can mean less total travel than getting to Heathrow first. We will show you that comparison honestly.

Qantas runs its own lounge at every point of its London operation, which is not true of every long-haul carrier into Heathrow.

London Heathrow, Terminal 3

The Qantas London Lounge is Lounge B after security in Terminal 3, open from 6am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 8am on Sundays. Business and First passengers use it, as do eligible oneworld travellers, and there is restaurant-style dining as well as a buffet. Qantas does not have a separate First lounge at Heathrow.

Singapore Changi, Terminal 1

QF1 and QF2 stop at Changi Terminal 1, where Qantas has both a First Lounge and a business lounge airside. The stop is roughly two hours, enough for a shower and a meal but not a long rest.

Perth, Terminal 3

The Qantas Perth International Lounge is on Level 1 of Terminal 3, after immigration, and opens three hours before international departures. It was built around the London flight, and it is where a westbound journey from Perth begins.

Opening hours change with the schedule, particularly while Perth–London is routed through Singapore, so we check the lounge for your departure rather than assume it.

Qantas is a founding member of oneworld, the same alliance as British Airways. That is the link that lets a UK traveller use Avios on Qantas.

Qantas has its own programme, Qantas Frequent Flyer, which uses Qantas Points. Avios belongs to The British Airways Club and its partner programmes. They are separate currencies and are not interchangeable, but alliance membership means oneworld status benefits such as lounge access travel with you between the two airlines.

Redeeming Avios on Qantas is done through ba.com and priced by British Airways, with taxes and charges added. Partner reward seats in business and First are limited and unpredictable. Treat a Qantas redemption as something to search early and flexibly, not something to count on.

If Avios is central to your plans, our British Airways guide covers how the programme works from the UK side.

Qantas is the obvious choice for Perth and one of several credible options for the east coast. Here is how it compares on the points that decide an Australia booking from the UK.

The pattern is clear enough. Qantas wins on time to Perth and on a consistent business seat across its fleet. It loses on the door, on regional UK departures, and on choice of connection times. For Sydney today, the decision is closer, and it often comes down to which stop, which departure time and which airport suits you.

A Qantas fare is set by your dates, your Australian destination, the direction you fly and how many seats are left at each price on that flight. There is no single price for the route.

• Perth versus beyond. Flying to Perth alone and connecting onward to Melbourne or Brisbane price as different journeys.
• Cabin size. The 787-9 on the Perth nonstop has 42 business seats against 70 on the A380, so there are fewer seats behind each price on the nonstop.
• Season. The UK winter is Australia's summer, and Christmas and New Year departures are in very high demand.
• Booking ahead. Premium seats to Australia rarely become better value close to departure.
• Mixing cabins or carriers. Qantas one way and another oneworld airline the other can sometimes suit dates better than two Qantas sectors.

We quote a fare we can issue for your dates, never a figure we cannot ticket. Bookings we ticket are ATOL protected where the scheme applies (ATOL Protected).