This morning, Qantas landed the world’s longest passenger flight from New York to Sydney, totalling almost 20 hours. Previously, Singapore to New York was the longest flight, at 18 and a half hours. Take a look at the previous record holders for the world’s longest flights.
Image Source: Twitter (@TheNationalUAE)
Qantas Airways Flight 7879 departed JFK Airport at 9.27pm ET Friday and landed in Sydney at 7.43 am local time. The plane was airborne for a whopping 19 hours and 16 minutes.
The flight was apart of Qantas’s new ‘Project Sunrise,’ which is an effort that will see the airline test new ultra-long-haul flights by the year’s end. This obviously includes the NY to Sydney flight and another flight from London to Sydney.
Image Source: Twitter (@AeroNews)
Qantas’s CEO Alan Joyce was among 6 “regular passengers” who were onboard during the flight, alongside pilots and crew. Pilots wore EEG monitors while in the cockpit and had to provide urine samples throughout the flight to test their melatonin levels. Passengers were monitored by a team of scientists and have agreed to ongoing testing for the next three weeks, measuring alertness, exercise and light exposure.
✈️ WORLD’S LONGEST FLIGHT: No airline has ever completed this 20-hour route.@Qantas will have scientists on board to test the effects on passengers and pilots. Follow #tictocnews this weekend pic.twitter.com/mGGrELutOV
— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) October 18, 2019
Outside of designated sleeping hours, passengers had to participate in group activities, such as a stretching exercise to the song The Macarena, which Alan Joyce also participated in. (So sad there’s no video evidence of that one…)
Anyway, unfortunately it will be a while until real passengers can actually board this flight. Apparently Qantas will decide before the end of the year whether or not the flight will go forward in the future. However, if it does, the earliest it will likely begin will be in 2023.
This will be my home from for the next day … almost literally. Flight time for JFK-SYD is 19.5 hours or so … #projectsunrise #qantas #avgeek pic.twitter.com/peoxkwxzRZ
— Ben Mutzabaugh (@benmutzabaugh) October 19, 2019
Alan Joyce has said, “We know people are interested in this,” and “We know people will want to fly them.”
Here’s to hoping the flights press forward and we can get on board. Literally.
Image Sources: Twitter, Unsplash
