Flights to Australia

Where to? Where from? How much?

Photo credit: Copyright Bernie Bradley; Bernie Bradley Websites

Flights to Australia

Find the help you need to book the best travel deals for your flight to Australia.

You can fly to Australia from a number of UK airports. Every flight will involve a stopover (see sidebar). Some may involve more than one.

International flights to Australia
Prices vary according to airline and level of luxury. Bear in mind that your flight will be long. If the budget will stand it invest in a little more leg room, or even an upgrade. You’ll be glad you did when you arrive at your destination feeling less like a piece of flat-pack furniture.

Emirates, Qantas and British Airways are the largest carriers. Compare prices with Etihad, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Virgin Australia and Air Asia.

Sydney is the best-served (and therefore most popular) destination, followed by Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. You can reach all of the above (and Cairns and Darwin) from London airports.

Manchester, Dublin, Glasgow, Birmingham and Newcastle all operate flights to one or more of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

Australian domestic flights
Jetstar and Virgin Australia (formerly Virgin Blue) cover the majority of destinations you’ll want to reach on an internal flight. Both carriers fly to all state capitals (apart from Canberra in the case of Jetstar) and plenty of other prime destinations such as the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.

Qantas covers much of what these two don’t.

Best travel deals on Australian flights
To get the best travel deals book early. International return flights into Melbourne and Sydney are usually cheapest as they’re the ones with most seats to sell, but check other destinations to be sure.

Be aware that the cheapest flight into Australia may not be the ideal option if you need a further internal flight to reach your preferred destination. Australia is huge, and internal flights can be expensive, especially to remote places.

Transport In Australia

Make the most of your stopovers

You might greet the fact that there are no direct flights to Australia with a groan. But, given the fact you don’t have a choice, we like to think of it as more of an opportunity to explore.

The majority of flights to Australia head east, regardless of your end destination, so your stopover will likely be in the Far or Middle East.

Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul and Bangkok are common stopover points and will place your total flight time at 20-22.5 hours.

Trade even more bum-numbing flight times for a bit of variety and you could stopover in:

•   Johannesburg (flight time 23hrs+)
•   Vancouver (25.5hrs)
•   San Francisco (25.5hrs) and Los Angeles (26hrs)

You’ll need multiple stopovers if you want to reach Australia by a more unusual route.

Find out more about stopovers to Australia.