Qantas London To Sydney Longest Flight
Just because you can do something, do you have to?
Would you want to fly for the best part of 20 hours on the route Qantas want to operate between London and Sydney…Non-stop?
London to Sydney non-stop? Yes in business! But would you in economy?
Although if you include boarding, exiting the aircraft, taxiing to the runway in London and again taxiing to the arrivals gate at Sydney then this plane would be your home for nearly one complete day!
Travel Aviation Blogger Sam Chui went on the long distant flight with Qantas from London to Sydney.
In the roomy and flat-bed area of the 42 seats in Business Class, even I would be up for that.
One passenger in the Business Class section on the London to Sydney Qantas flight.
However, seated say in seat 53E in the middle row of the middle section for all that time surely a recipe for air rage even from the meekest of passengers? Let alone the odd belligerent Aussie who’s, team has just crashed out of a cricket or rugger final…You get my point!
The empty economy section on the Qantas London to Sydney flight.
The flight is also researching the psychology of the passengers on such a long and confined journey. Some passengers are being monitored to gauge sleep patterns and other details including the food choices too. The Dreamliner cabin is pressurised to a height of around 6,000feet which is more comfortable than many other long-haul aircraft.
Qantas crew for the long distant flight from London to Sydney with CEO Alan Joyce, centre.
Mind you I did notice from the social media posts that my fellow travel writing and blogging colleagues are being pictured and settling into the business seating area!
The media settling in for the long distant flight with Qantas from London to Sydney and in the Business section!
With just the 50 passengers that Qantas took on the flight they all should have been forced to be jammed into the economy section and not allowed to move apart from the odd toilet break! The inflight work out all well and good but not with some 166 passengers in the economy section!
Would you like some guy’s crotch or bum thrust in your direction at head height whilst you were seated next to the aisle? Or even, the chance to breath in the odour of multiple sweaty armpits after some ten hours on the plane as an excercise class went ahead next to you?
Sorry Qantas as you can see from your image below… not one passenger in economy!
Long distant in-flight work out on the Qantas London to Sydney non-stop flight.
Speeding to Australia in this sub 20 hours is surely a transport revolution and well done on Qantas making it happen. However, yes, it is possible. But is that something that the normal fare paying economy passengers will want? Only time will tell when several fully loaded aircraft have made the trip and only then could it possibly give the answer.
However, I know mine now…no bloody way mate!
Long distant flight with Qantas from London to Sydney.
For me splitting the journey in the Middle East or as presently in Singapore would be my economy option and seems so more logical. Certainly, an overall journey time but psychologically speaking arrival into Sydney I think in a more content, comfortable and calm manner is better.
Arrival in Sydney after 19 hours non-stop.
Taking a brief stop in hub airports around the Gulf of airlines like that of Qatar, Emirates or Etihad makes more sense to me if you are only able to afford ‘cattle class’!
Carrying some 100 metric tons of fuel the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner needed that much to complete the nearly 11,000 mile or 17,880 kilometre trip, it arrived in Sydney with around 105 minutes of flying time fuel still in its tanks.
Called a non-stop research flight the route flown on the Qantas London to Sydney route.
Flown by the latest addition to the national carrier’s fleet, the brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed in Sydney at 12:28pm, 19 hours and 19 minutes after leaving Heathrow. It follows the non-stop New York to Sydney flight last month as the second of three research flights aim at improving crew and passenger wellbeing on ultra long haul services under consideration.
Long distant flight with Qantas from London to Sydney.
The direct flight reduced total travel time by around two hours. It is only the second time any commercial airline has flown this route non-stop, after Qantas flew a near-empty 747-400 in 1989.
The flight was met by more than 1,000 Qantas employees.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “Almost a century after our first flight, Qantas and Jetstar carry more than 50 million people around this country and the globe each year. I’m sure that would amaze our three founders, who held the early board meetings of this company at the local tailor’s shop because it was the longest table they could find.”
“A lot of Australians saw the world for the first time on a flying kangaroo. And a lot of migrants started their life in Australia when they first stepped on a Qantas plane,” added Mr Joyce.
Qantas will officially turn 99 years old, and begin its 100th year on Saturday 16 November 2019.
FLIGHT REPORT FROM QANTAS ON THE LONDON TO SYDNEY ROUTE
- QF 7879 flight London to Sydney flight time was 19 hours and 19 minutes. Touch down at Sydney International airport was 12:28pm
- The flight was operated by a brand-new Boeing 787-9 registration VH ZNJ, named Longreach.
- The service was a re-purposed delivery flight. Rather than flying from Boeing’s factory in Seattle back to Australia empty, the aircraft was positioned in London to simulate one of the Project Sunrise routes under consideration by Qantas. All carbon emissions were offset.
- The flight departed London’s Heathrow Airport and flew across 11 countries including England, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Philippines and Indonesia before crossing the Australian coast near Darwin, tracking south east across Australia towards Sydney.
- Project Sunrise research flight direct from London to Sydney lands after 19 hours and 19 minutes.
ABOUT THE CENTENARY AIRCRAFT
The new 787 Centenary livery aircraft will fly across key Qantas international destinations, including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and London. Named Longreach after the Queensland town that was key to the airline’s origins, it joins nine other Qantas 787s that are all named after things that are iconically Australian, including Skippy, Great Southern Land, Waltzing Matilda and Jillaroo.
