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Qantas has completed its first research flight between New York and Sydney as it considers eventual regular service between those cities.
The flight, in a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, landed Sunday morning in Sydney following 19 hours and 16 minutes in the air, Qantas said. Forty-nine passengers and crew were on the plane. Qantas had previously said the passengers would primarily be comprised of employees.
The flight was the first of two that Qantas will fly between New York and Sydney this fall. The carrier will also fly a research flight from London to Sydney. No commercial airline has flown a standard passenger service between London or New York and Australia’s east coast. At 11,185 miles, London-Sydney is widely considered the ultimate challenge in the long-haul business.
Qantas aspires to begin flying both routes early next decade and has challenged Boeing and Airbus to develop a jet capable of flying them with a viable payload by 2022.
On the three research flights this fall the carrier is conducting experiments to assess health and well-being on ultralong-haul flights. Tests this weekend ranged from monitoring pilot brain waves, melatonin levels and alertness, to offering exercise classes for passengers.
“Night flights usually start with dinner and then lights off. For this flight, we started with lunch and kept the lights on for the first six hours, to match the time of day at our destination. It means you start reducing the jet lag straight away,” CEO Alan Joyce said.
Qantas expects to make a final decision on whether to go forward with the routes by the end of December.
Source: travelweekly.com
