The maiden flight of a new non-stop regular service between Australia and the UK has arrived at London Heathrow.

Qantas 9 (QF9) touched down at Terminal Three at 5.02am, just over 17 hours after setting off from Perth at 7pm local time (11am GMT) on Saturday.

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner completed the 9,226-mile journey to arrive slightly earlier than the scheduled arrival time 5.10am.

The UK’s longest non-stop regular passenger flight will set off back for Perth at 1.15pm on Sunday.

The route is 24% further than the UK’s existing longest service, operated by Garuda Indonesia between Heathrow and Jakarta (7,275 miles).

The new link with Perth is around three hours quicker than routes which involve stopping in the Middle East to change planes or refuel.

It also enables faster journeys to Sydney and Melbourne than flying via Dubai.