Australian airline Qantas will begin test flying its longest-ever flights next week in an attempt to lure customers from rival carriers.
This is reported by the Financial Times.
The new routes will see a commercial airline fly non-stop between New York and Sydney for the first time – a distance of more than 16,000 kilometres. In addition, a non-stop route will be introduced between London and Sydney, an even longer distance (17,000 kilometres) expected to take up to 20 hours.
”This is one of the last great challenges in modern aviation. /…/ It gives us an opportunity to connect cities without having to stopover, saving passengers three or four hours,” said Sean Golding, the Qantas captain who will be behind the controls on the first New York-Sydney flight.
The flights are part of Qantas' larger "Project Sunrise" initiative, where the company aims to operate non-stop flights between Australia's east coast and cities such as London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt, Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro. The extreme long-haul flights have been made possible by the development of a new generation of fuel-efficient passenger aircraft from Boeing and Airbus.
The longest route in the world to date is currently flown by Singapore Airlines and runs between New York and Singapore, a distance of 15,344 kilometers flown with an Airbus A350-900ULR.
Source: Direct News Agency
