Qantas has stated that nonstop flights from Sydney to London and New York will begin in 2025. The national carrier of Australia has announced the purchase of a new fleet of Airbus A350-1000 jets capable of direct flights to any city in the world.
The first Sydney-London flights will take off in late 2025 and will be the world’s longest passenger trips at over 20 hours.
The route, which first began in 1947, used to take 58 hours and seven stops.
In a statement, CEO Alan Joyce stated, “It’s the final frontier and the final fix for the tyranny of distance.”
The proposal, dubbed Project Sunrise, has been in the works for approximately five years, but implementation has been hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
It began offering direct 17-hour flights between London and Perth, Western Australia, in 2018, and it performed a series of test flights from the east coast to the United Kingdom and New York in 2019.
The airline did not specify how much seats in its four classes, first, business, premium economy, and economy, will cost.
Each plane will be able to transport 238 passengers, with premium seating accounting for 40% of the cabin. Qantas claims that the seats will be more spacious than usual.
To fight the consequences of spending 20 hours in the air, passengers will have access to a “wellness zone” in the plane’s centre, which will include a self-service snack bar and space for stretching and mobility.
The success of the route, according to Paul Charles, chief executive of travel advisory firm The PC Agency, depends on a lower price to entice travellers who would otherwise break their journey with a stop in the Middle East.
“It’s OK if you’re in business class and at the front of the plane with more space,” the former Virgin Atlantic communications director said, “but if you’re travelling economy, most people will want to break their journey and it would be a very rough 20-hour ride.”