From June 22, 2022, Qantas will operate the only direct service between Australia and continental Europe, flying three return Sydney-Perth-Rome flights per week to meet demand over the European holiday peak season.

The new flight will cut more than three hours off the current fastest travel time to Rome using the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with cabins designed specifically for long haul travel.

Customers will be able to combine Qantas’ Rome flights with its double-daily direct flights between Australia and London, meaning they will be able to fly in and out of different cities on one return ticket through to October 2022.

The Rome service will also give customers another option for reaching onward destinations across the Mediterranean and southern Europe through Qantas’ network of partners.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said strong travel demand since borders re-opened had given the Flying Kangaroo confidence to explore new destinations as travellers look to make up for lost time.

“We’ve seen amazing demand on our direct service from Perth to London and on our new services to Delhi from Melbourne and Sydney. These are exciting destinations and there’s strong evidence the pandemic is making non-stop flights between Australia and the rest of world even more desirable as we learn to live with the virus and its variants,” Joyce added.

“Italy is the largest market for us in continental Europe for people visiting family and friends from Australia and we think customers will love flying direct to one of the world’s great cities to spend time with loved ones or enjoy Italy.

“After the restrictions of the past few years, it’s the ideal time to reinvigorate our international network and we’ll continue to look for new opportunities.”

The new route is expected to entice more visitors to Western Australia and Qantas will partner with Tourism Western Australia to boost inbound tourism from Europe into Perth and regional WA, as well as promote Perth as an ideal stopover for Australians travelling to Europe from the east coast.

“The new Qantas route, set to run three times a week, will link WA with key international markets and help West Aussies with family and friends in Italy, and the rest of Europe, safely reunite,” WA Premier Mark McGowan said in a Facebook post.

“As part of our Reconnect WA Plan, we’re opening up our incredible tourism industry to vaccinated overseas visitors, who will see our State as an exciting and safe destination like no other.”

Qantas recently started new flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Delhi and re-started a number of existing routes from Sydney and Melbourne to destinations including Los Angeles, London and Singapore.

Fares for the new Sydney-Perth-Rome flights go on sale today starting from $1785 return.

Qantas will operate two Points Planes (bookable until December 21, 2021) for Frequent Flyers with every seat in every cabin available to book as a reward seat on the inaugural flight to Rome on June 22 and on the first flight departing Rome on June 23.

The seasonal route will operate from June 22 until October 6.

Qantas will offer connections to 16 destinations in Europe including Athens, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Nice, Madrid and Paris and 15 destinations within Italy including Milan and Venice.

The announcement comes after Western Australia confirmed its state and international borders would reopen on February 5, 2022.