There are suitcases, and then there are moving-to-Australia-forever-suitcases, as a quick scan around Heathrow’s Terminal 3 reveals. Every morning at 11.50am, the Qantas QF10 – the only direct flight from Britain to Australia – soars towards sunnier climes without stopping for a single slurp of kerosene. It carries 236 passengers plus a cargo hold loaded with gargantuan luggage and petrified pets. And, around 16 hours later, it will land in Perth, having whizzed 9,009 miles around the world. The Dreamliner, as the plane is branded, holds the promise of a one-way ticket to a dream life.
Since its first flight in 2018, the service has carried around 500,000 passengers to the land of pristine beaches, Neighbours and Tim Tams. Elsewhere, jets head from the UK’s other major airports to the likes of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (after pit-stops in Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai) every week.
