World’s longest flight will connect Sydney to London in 20 hours; see map

The Australian airline Qantas announced on Monday (2) plans to operate the longest commercial flight in the world from 2025. The Sydney-London route, 17,750 kilometers, will run nonstop in approximately 20 hours.

To be able to travel the route — which currently requires at least one stopover in Singapore, Hong Kong, Doha or Dubai — the company ordered 12 Airbus A350-1000 planes.

The aircraft will be specially configured to carry more kerosene and have a wellness area, allowing passengers to do the activities necessary to support such a long journey.

The announcement is part of the Sunrise Project (dawn, in English), which provides direct flights from Australia to several cities around the world, including New York, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Chicago and Frankfurt.

According to the company, the launch of the first direct commercial flights connecting Sydney to London and New York by 2025 will be a solution to what it calls the “tyranny of distance”.

Currently, the longest flight in the world connects New York to Singapore (15,343 km) in around 18 hours. The longest route in terms of distance is made by Cathay Pacific between New York and Hong Kong – which covers 16,668 km in 17 hours.

A few years ago, Qantas had already organized test flights for long distances, but with limited numbers of passengers. In 2019, the London-Sydney journey took 19 hours and 19 minutes, while the New York-Sydney test flight (16,200 km) lasted just over 19 hours.

billion dollar bet

After the Covid-19 pandemic delayed plans, the Australian airline finally made the order for the 12 new aircraft official.

With that, Qantas must disburse more than US$ 2 billion (R$ 10 billion). According to the 2018 catalogue, the last year in which Airbus published the indicative prices of its planes, the A350-1000 was sold at US$ 366.5 million (R$ 1.8 billion). However, the company confirmed that it has achieved a significant reduction in the price of the aircraft.

The model ordered is a longer and more spacious version of the A350-900, and will be delivered to Qantas with 238 seats, 100 fewer than those normally installed on this model.

Passengers will be able to choose from four classes (first, business, premium economy, economy), with more than 40% of the cabin dedicated to premium seating.

Area for exercise, relaxation and hydration

The Australian company also promised a more spacious economy class with an area designed to move, stretch and hydrate.

So-called “wellness spaces” will be between the economy and premium economy seats. According to the company, the idea is that passengers can relax, do yoga, hydrate and allow the body to have better blood circulation.

less emissions

Qantas also highlighted that all aircraft are state-of-the-art and therefore guarantee a lower CO2 emission.

Currently, a journey from Sydney to London, with a stopover in Singapore, generates around 6,114 kg of CO2 per passenger, according to calculations by Atmosfair.

“These newer aircraft and engines will reduce emissions by at least 15% if they run on fossil fuels, and significantly better when they run on sustainable aviation fuel. [SAF, na sigla em inglês]”, said Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas, in a statement.

“This order brings us closer to our commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050,” he added.

With AFP and Aeroin