Qantas eyes Sydney to London direct flight

Qantas is challenging Boeing and Airbus to build the "next generation" aircraft capable of non-stop flights from Australia's eastern states to Europe by 2022.

Qantas wants to launch nonstop flights from Australia's eastern states to Europe in five years' time.

The only problem is that there is currently no plane capable of flying direct services such as Sydney to London, Brisbane to Paris and Melbourne to New York non-stop, its chief executive Alan Joyce says.

Mr Joyce, who delivered an $852 million profit for the flying kangaroo on Friday, says that's why he has written to the CEOs of aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus, challenging them to build aircraft capable of such journeys by 2022.

From March next year, Qantas will offer 17-hour direct flights from Perth to London using Boeing Dreamliners.

"We want to offer direct flights to Europe not only from Perth but from the eastern states as well," Mr Joyce said during a results briefing.

"Both manufacturers are developing aircraft that can almost do the job."

He said advances in the next few years will close the gap.