World’s longest and first non-stop commercial flight from New York to Sydney
Travel BIz News —
Australian airline Qantas has completed the longest and first non-stop commercial flight from New York to Sydney after 19 hours 16 minutes in the air.
A total of 49 passengers and crew were on the flight, which was used to run a series of experiments to assess health and well-being onboard.
Data from these experiments will be used help shape the crew rostering and customer service of Qantas’ ultra-long haul flights in future including Project Sunrise, according to a statement issued by Qantas.
Tests ranged from monitoring pilot brain waves, melatonin levels and alertness, through to exercise classes for passengers.
Arriving in Sydney, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “This is a really significant first for aviation. Hopefully, it’s a preview of a regular service that will speed up how people travel from one side of the globe to the other.
“The flight went really smoothly. We had a lot of interest from air traffic controllers as we crossed through different airspace because of the uniqueness of this flight. We are really happy with how the flight went and it’s great have some of the data we need to help assess turning this into a regular service,” said Qantas Captain Sean Golding, who led the four pilots operating the service.
Two more research flights are planned as part of the Project Sunrise evaluations – London to Sydney in November and another New York to Sydney in December.
Oct. 21 , 2019
