Qantas’ first commercial flights to Rome since 2003 haven’t even taken off yet, but some flights on the flying kangaroo’s seasonal Perth-Rome service are already sold out.

Qantas will commence 3x weekly Sydney-Perth-Rome flights on 22 June 2022 using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The route will run over the peak European summer period and the September school holidays, finishing up on 6 October 2022.

Many Australians are evidently planning to travel to Europe over the upcoming July school holidays. Airfares to Europe during that period have become quite high as flights fill up, and award availability from Australia to Europe over the coming months is now virtually non-existent. But bookings on Qantas’ Perth-Rome flights are looking particularly solid, even though the route won’t actually launch for another three weeks.

Australian Frequent Flyer analysed the number of seats currently available for sale between Perth and Rome on Qantas’ new route. The first two flights from Perth to Rome are already completely sold out, and several others have only a couple of seats left for sale.

WA Premier Mark McGowan will be on the second sold-out flight from Perth to the Italian capital on 25 June.

The third flight from Perth to Rome is currently sold out in Business and looking very full in Economy, but still has lots of seats available for sale in Premium Economy. Flights to Rome in July still generally have at least some seats for sale in each class of travel.

The Qantas Boeing 787-9 has 42 Business, 28 Premium Economy and 166 Economy seats, for a total of 236 seats.

In the other direction, the first few flights from Rome to Perth are currently looking very full in Business Class. But the Rome-Perth flights are looking extremely full in all cabin classes around the end of the July school holidays.

Qantas’ 17 and 21 July departures from Rome are already totally sold out in Business and Premium Economy, and both have only two Economy seats left for sale. On 19 July, Economy Class is already sold out – almost two months in advance!

These kinds of numbers – months out from the departure date – are great news for Qantas. That said, they’re perhaps not so great if you want to upgrade using points. And with flights so full, airfares on the non-stop services to Italy have been generally quite expensive.

Classic Flight Reward availability on this route has also been extremely limited since the “Points Plane” promotion in December 2021, when reward seats on the inaugural flights were made available for a limited time. You can still occasionally find a Classic Reward seat available in Economy if you look really hard, but that’s about it.

You can leave a comment or join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: WA Premier confirmed to be travelling to Rome as new Qantas Perth-Rome flights sell out

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.