Today.Az » World news » Qantas tests world's longest commercial flight from New York to Sydney
20 October 2019 [13:09] - Today.Az
By Trend
Australia’s flag carrier Qantas completed on Sunday a nonstop test
flight from New York to Sydney, researching how the world’s longest
potential commercial airplane journey of nearly 20 hours would impact
pilots, crew and passengers, reports Trend referring to Reuters.
Carrying 50 passengers and crew on board, Qantas Flight 7879 on a new
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner touched down in Sydney on Sunday morning after a
16,200-kilometre (10,066-mile) journey which lasted 19 hours 16
minutes.
“This is a really historic moment for Qantas, a really historic
moment for Australian aviation and a really historic moment for world
aviation,” Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce, who took the
flight, said after landing.
With demand for air travel rapidly growing and aircraft performance
improving, carriers are increasingly looking into ultra-long-haul
travel. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects the
worldwide number of annual passengers to grow from 4.6 billion this year
to 8.2 billion by 2037.
No commercial aircraft as of yet has the range to fly such an
ultra-long haul with a full passenger and cargo load. To give the plane
the needed range, the Qantas flight took off with maximum fuel, only a
few passengers, restricted baggage load and no cargo.
The goal was to gather data, with a team of researchers to monitor,
among other things, lighting, activity, sleep and consumption patterns
of passengers, and crew melatonin levels. They also tracked the brain
wave patterns of pilots, equipped for the flight with brain monitoring
devices.
The aim of the research was, Qantas said in a statement, to increase
health and wellness, minimize jet lag and identify optimum crew rest and
work periods.
“The flight was very successful from two components - the first one was research,” Qantas Captain Sean Golding said.
“And also the feat of distance - that flight last night was 16,200
kilometers. We were airborne for 19 hours and 16 minutes, and we landed
here in Sydney with a comfortable 70 minutes of fuel.”
The airline also plans to test a nonstop flight from London to Sydney
and expects to make a decision by the end of the year whether to start
the routes, which would commence in 2022 or 2023.
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