19-hour nonstop flight tested

Qantas eyes London-Sydney for public by ’22

PERTH, Australia — Australia’s national carrier Qantas on Friday successfully completed a 19 ½-hour, nonstop flight from London to Sydney, which was used to run a series of tests to assess the effects of ultralonghaul flights on crew fatigue and passenger jetlag.

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner took off from London’s Heathrow Airport on Thursday morning and touched down at Sydney Airport 45 minutes behind schedule at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

The 11,060-mile journey was part of Project Sunrise — Qantas’ goal to operate regular, nonstop commercial flights from Australia’s east coast cities of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne to London and New York.

Last month, Qantas completed the first nonstop flight from New York to Sydney, which took 19 hours and 16 minutes.

Another New York to Sydney flight is expected next month to round out the project.

There were 52 people — mostly Qantas employees — on board. They participated in various experiments, including using wearable technology devices to track sleep patterns, food and drink intake, lighting and physical movement.

A final decision on whether the ultralong-haul flights will become a commercial reality is expected by the year’s end, with the service potentially launching by 2022.

Ahead of the flight, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline wants to improve comfort on longhaul flights.

“We know that travelers want room to move on these direct flights, and the exercises we encouraged on the first research flight seemed to work really well,“he said.