Qantas has revealed more about its planned nonstop passenger flights between London and Sydney – set to begin in “late 2025”.
It will become the longest air link in the world, over 1,000 miles longer than the current record-holder, between Singapore and New York. The airline describes London-Sydney as “the final frontier of long-haul travel”.
The original plan was for the ultra long-haul flights to begin in early 2023. But the Covid crisis – and the accompanying closure of Australia’s borders for almost two years – set so-called “Project Sunrise” back.
The Australian airline will launch a connection from its New South Wales hub to New York before the London Heathrow-Sydney link. The two routes are being marketed under the Project Sunrise banner.
Qantas already operates nonstop between Heathrow and Perth, a significantly shorter distance.
For the longer routes, the carrier is kitting out specially fitted jets with what it claims is a “world-first wellbeing zone” to ease the stress from a flight likely to take over 20 hours.
In addition, Qantas has released details of research designed to combat the jet lag that comes with crossing so many time zones.
If the London-Sydney link proves successful, other city pairs currently unserved by nonstop flights may also be considered.
Alan Joyce, chief executive of the Australian airline group, says: “Given our geography, Qantas has a long history of using imagination and innovation to overcome the tyranny of distance between Australia and the rest of the world.”
But the ultra-long-haul journey will come with a high financial and environmental price attached.
These are the key questions and answers.
What is Qantas promising?
Nonstop flights connecting London Heathrow and Sydney, which are 10,573 miles apart.
Currently Qantas has a daily one-stop via Singapore. QF1 from Sydney to London is scheduled to take 23h15. QF2, the return journey from Australia to the UK, takes 80 minutes longer due to the effects of the jet stream – which moves from west to east.
The nonstop flight is likely to take around 20 hours southeast-bound and up to two hours longer northwest-bound.
Haven’t we been here before?
Yes. As long ago as 1989, Qantas flew nonstop from London Heathrow to Sydney using a Boeing 747 “jumbo jet”. The airline repeated the stunt in 2019. On neither occasion were there any…
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