Australian business travellers rejoice: Direct flights to London

** FILE ** A Tuesday, July 24, 2007 file photo of the tail of a Qantas Boeing 767 in Sydney. Qantas announced they are closing their Maintenance Facility at Avalon, Melbourne, Friday, Nov. 8, 2013. (AAP Image/Paul Miller) NO ARCHIVING
By Hannah Edensor


Australian business passengers are set to benefit from the potential new Qantas direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to London due to happen in the next five years, according to Concur.

Murray Warner, director, business development ANZ, Concur, said, “A direct flight to London from the east coast offers Australia’s business community some exciting international travel opportunities.

“Traditionally, Australia has been seen to be too far away and is therefore often left out of the loop when it comes to international business travel. Being able to take one plane to Europe from Australia will be invaluable for the business community. Not only will it make it easier for local executives to travel to the UK, it will also significantly cut out time wasted in stopover airports.”

When travelling employees spend time in stopover airports, they often lose productivity due to tiredness or lack of a comfortable workspace.

Employees travelling through Dubai are subject to a laptop ban which means they may not even have access to their work files while in transit.

Being able to access a single, non-stop flight to Europe means businesses can save money on expenses incurred during stopovers, from hotels and transport to meals and other incidentals.

Avoiding the laptop ban means they can stay productive not just in the airport but also on the plane. And, the single flight eliminates concerns about employees in transit who may miss their connections.

Murray Warner said, “The costs associated with layovers can add up quickly. Often, companies book travel with minimal time between flights to minimise that wasted time but, if anything goes wrong, employees miss their connection, which leads to a whole new raft of problems and potential costs.

Not least of these is the chance that the employee could miss all or part of their important meetings due to these missed connections. A single flight simplifies travel exponentially.

“This will also help employers better manage their duty of care because they won’t have to worry about staff spending time in countries in between Australia and Europe, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE, or Dubai.”

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