Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) has temporarily rerouted its daily nonstop route between Perth International and London Heathrow to go via Singapore Changi to avoid overflying parts of the Middle East as fears of air strikes in the area grow.
The rerouting took effect from August 8 and currently runs until at least August 22. It impacts only QF9 to London. The return QF10 service is unaffected, as are Qantas flights between Perth and Rome Fiumicino and Perth and Paris CDG.
"We're making adjustments to some of our flight paths due to the situation in parts of the Middle East as a precaution," a Qantas statement on the matter reads.
It is the second time this year that the airline has temporarily rerouted the normally 17.5-hour leg through Singapore to dodge possible disruptions over the Middle East. The Singapore stopover adds around four hours to the travel time.
Typically, QF9, operated by a B787-9, tracks from Perth to the north-eastern Omani coast and overflies Dubai International, before heading up the Persian Gulf and overflying the Iran/Iraq border zone to reach Türkiye, where it turns towards Western Europe and London. In the days leading up to the decision to reroute via Singapore, the flight was bypassing the Gulf, instead overflying Riyadh and the top of the Red Sea before turning towards Europe. Normally, QF9 is the world's fourth longest nonstop flight.
