New York to Sydney: ‘guinea pig’ passengers give verdict after world’s longest commercial flight of 19 hours and 16 minutes
- Purpose was to research how the world’s longest potential commercial plane journey would impact pilots, crew and passengers
- The 16,200km test flight took 19 hours and 16 minutes
The longest non-stop passenger flight touched down in Australia Sunday morning after more than 19 hours in the air, a milestone journey from New York that Qantas hopes to parlay into commercial success.
Qantas flight QF7879 took 19 hours and 16 minutes to fly direct from New York to Sydney in the first of three “ultra long-haul” journeys planned by the airline this year.
The national flag carrier is operating the test flights – which also include one from London to Sydney -as it weighs a roll-out of regular services on marathon routes from the United States and Britain to Australia.
Just 49 people travelled on the Boeing 787-9 to minimise the weight on board and give the plane sufficient fuel range to travel more than 16,200km (10,066 miles) without refuelling.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce called it “a really historic moment” for both the airline and world aviation.
“This is the first of three test flights that’s going to come up with recommendations about how we manage pilot fatigue (and) how we actually manage passenger jet lag,” he told reporters after arriving in Sydney.