Record flight: non-stop from London to Sydney in 19 hours and 19 minutes
The Qantas airline completed an extremely long flight of 19 hours and 19 minutes on Friday. The aircraft, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, flew from London to Sydney in one go.
It would be the longest commercial flight ever, CNN reports. The distance traveled in one go, 17,800 kilometers, is also a record. When Qantas started flights between London and Sydney in 1947, the journey lasted five days and had to be stopped six times.
The test flight was part of Project Sunrise. From 2022, Qantas wants to offer direct flights from Sydney to London and New York. A few weeks ago the direct test flight from Sydney to New York was already taken. That was a record, but it was broken again today.
Two sunrises
Among the passengers who boarded the Qantas plane yesterday morning were employees of the company and a handful of journalists. The fifty passengers, including the four pilots, saw two different sunrises and were closely watched.
They were equipped with, among other things, monitors that can measure all kinds of data. This way, sleep patterns, movements, and food consumption was recorded. The pilots were also provided with such equipment. From 2022 Qantas wants to use both routes commercially.
In Sydney, the device was received by many interested people.
