19h19

... the duration in hours of the record-breaking test flight undertaken by Qantas Airlines last week, non-stop from London to Sydney.

In total, the brand-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner was in the air for 19 hours and 19 minutes for the 17,700km, with both passengers and crew on board, making it the world’s longest passenger flight by a commercial airline both for the distance and duration.

Both previous records were also set by Qantas — last month on an experimental flight from New York to Sydney, which was about 16,000km and took 19 hours and 16 minutes.

Both the New York and Sydney flights were part of a mission — dubbed “Project

Sunrise” — to launch a regular non-stop commercial service between Sydney and New York and Sydney and London.

Qantas has said it hopes the route will become part of its regular schedule by 2022 or 2023 but that it needs to ensure pilots, passengers and crew can handle the time in the air. Another stumbling block is the planes. The Sydney Morning Herald this week said Qantas was looking to buy either Boeing 777-8Xs or Airbus A350-100ULRs for the purpose, but is haggling over prices and other conditions with their makers.

The longest flight currently operating is Singapore Airlines’ non-stop from Singapore to Newark, US, which takes 18.5 hours.