Flying nonstop for 20 hours, Qantas' Project Sunrise is ready
Before the pandemic, Australian carrier Qantas had challenged Boeing and Airbus to provide an aircraft that could enable the [...]
Qantas
Oneworld
Australia
Before the pandemic, the Australian vector Qantas had challenged Boeing and Airbus to provide an aircraft that could enable the company to fly, nonstop, from Sydney to London and New York. Namely. travel more than 10,000 miles safely and with a plane full of passengers.
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To date, it is worth remembering, the world's longest commercial flight departs from Singapore and lands almost 18 hours later in New York., for a distance of about 9,500 miles. Singapore uses A350/900 ULRs configured with business and premium economy seats for this route.
The best bonuses
These days came the news that Qantas is ready to put an order on the books with Airbus for a special version of the A350/1000, i.e., the largest model of the made-in-Europe flagship. A modified version with two additional fuel tanks installed and, above all, enough power to ensure that it can safely transport passengers and cargo from the two opposite poles of the globe.
When will the first planes take off
The plan before the pandemic was to launch the two routes commercially in 2023, in fact everything was postponed by 2 years and now the goal is to start by the end of 2025.
Twenty hours of flight time, without getting off the ground, is a lot, and Qantas has already made similar connections, with semi-empty planes, to test crews and passengers' needs. Feedback has been positive, and above all, the Australian carrier is convinced that the approximately 3 hours less can make a difference for those who want to travel without wasting time and without having to have the added stress of a connecting flight.
In fact, today for connections from the eastern part of Australia to Europe, as in the case of the Rome connection, a technical stopover is made in Perth, while flights to the East Coast of the United States land in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
Once the new A350s arrive in the fleet instead there will be a unique pull, a flight in which you go through two sunrises or two sunsets, depending on the direction of the flight.
In conclusion
It is hard for us Europeans to imagine such a long flight, with 13 hours you can get almost anywhere.
Of course, already the 18-hour flight from Singapore to New York. seem endless, let alone over 20. I like it making stopovers around the world and discover new airports, so I don't stress about getting off and on a plane, quite the contrary.
However, I understand that for a large percentage of people a direct flight, even a long one, makes a difference both in terms of overall travel time and in terms of less stress associated with having to make a connection.