At the moment, if you want to fly from the UK to Sydney, Australia’s Harbour City, you’ve got a 30ish hour journey and at least one stressful stop over ahead of you. But there may be a quicker, calmer and much more convenient option for travellers before the decade’s up.
Aussie airline Qantas Airways is aiming to launch the first ever non-stop flight between London and Sydney in just two years. The ‘ultra long-haul’ flight will last 22 hours – enough time to binge at least ten on-flight movies.
The new direct route from London to Sydney will be 10,573 miles and at some times of the year will pass over Japan and the North Pole to follow the direction of the wind. The plan for the routes is called ‘Project Sunrise’ because passengers will witness two sunrises while on board a single flight.
Right now, the longest flight in the world is the 9,537 mile trip from Singapore to New York, which takes just over 18 hours.
It’s a long, long time to be in the air and could result in a serious case of cabin fever. But Qantas’ said it’s working hard to make sure the mammoth journey as comfy as can be and will be the first airline to offer a dedicated ‘wellness zone’.
The specially designed Airbus A350-1000s planes will have less seats to maximise space and there’ll be an area between the economy and premium sections to encourage passengers to move about and stretch their legs. A couple of years ago, Time Out revealed a sneak peek inside the new aircraft.
Vanessa Hudson, Qantas chief exec told the Independent: ‘Project Sunrise is a four-cabin aircraft, so it's first class, business class, premium economy, and economy. This gives us the ability to redefine the next cabin experience for all of those.
‘We've got Charles Perkins University working with us, looking at how to manage jet lag, how to eat, when to sleep, when to move. We’re going to be building that into an integral part of the in-flight experience.’
The project was actually due to be complete by 2024, but it faced delays thanks to (you guessed it) the global pandemic. It was then projected for launch in 2026 but has been pushed back further. It’s not officially confirmed that Sydney to London Heathrow will be the first of the ultra long-haul Project Sunrise routes to take off – Qantas’s direct 18 hour flights from Sydney to New York may pip it to the post.
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