A financial spat between Qantas and Perth Airport is hindering the airline's plans for direct, non-stop flights between Western Australia and other cities including Paris and Johannesburg.
Perth Airport is suing Qantas in the WA Supreme Court for millions of dollars over alleged unpaid charges for aeronautical services.
Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce said he wanted to settle the dispute quickly so the airline could proceed with other non-stop routes.
"We're working through the economics of ordering the aircraft for that, but one of the delays we have is unfortunately we have a dispute with the airport ... and that could take a number of years," he told ABC radio on Tuesday.
"We think it could be resolved a lot faster than that, we hope it will because that will allow us to start building more services out of WA.
"The last agreement we had goes back to 2011 and since then interest rates have come down, the assets have depreciated and we do believe it is too high."
Mr Joyce claimed Qantas was already paying a fair price to the airport, but would be happy for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to make a binding determination.
While Qantas invested in Terminal 3 and 4 for direct flights between Perth and London, it intends to use Terminal 1 by 2025 "subject to the right commercial terms being negotiated with the airport", Mr Joyce said.
But Perth Airport says there is no legal obstacle to Qantas offering direct flights to Paris and has repeatedly stated it is ready to host a direct flight to Johannesburg through Terminal 1.
"Perth Airport has secured pricing agreements with 23 out of 24 airlines ... which is evidence that our approach to pricing is both fair and reasonable."
Premier Mark McGowan said it was important to have Qantas at the central terminal given the state government was building a railway there.
Mr Joyce also said the non-stop flights between Perth and London over the past year had provided a $101 million boost in visitor spending in WA.
The 787 Dreamliner service is the only direct connection between Australia and Europe, travelling about 14,000 kilometres each flight.
Mr Joyce said about 60 per cent of passengers came from Australia, while UK residents made up most overseas passengers at 31 per cent.
Passengers travelling between Australia and London via Perth are also up 30 per cent, including a seven per cent increase in UK visitors coming to WA.
