Australian airline Qantas has just made the record-breaking trip from London to Sydney nonstop, spending 19 hours and 19 minutes in the air and opening up the possibility of scheduled direct flights between some of the farthest corners of the planet.
It feels like the world just got that bit smaller. A flight operated by
The 787 gives a 20% fuel per seat saving over the former 747s being phased out. This gives airlines much more margin to make money on long flights, where fuel is a higher percentage of cost. Those profit margins will act as a powerful incentive for carriers to focus on longer flights as a growth area.The number of these new flights shows how popular they are. Airlines all over the world are now routinely offering flights of 15 hours duration, and that will continue.
If Qantas's"Project Sunrise" sunrise flights do include economy, many would probably choose a Singapore stopover than 19 hours nonstop in the cheaper seats.The sky above us isn't an international free-for-all where airplanes can roam at will. Each country jealously guards its airspace, requiring all aircraft to have permission to operate within it.
Look at a modern jetliner up close and you'd be forgiven for thinking -- after first marveling at how extraordinary it is that such a huge machine can fly in the first place -- that the position of a handful of humans, or even a few cans of soda won't make much difference when it comes to balancing it in the air.
To conserve every last drop, it was towed to the runway before departure. Compare that with QF7879, which didn't need full fuel tank and could keep its cabin furniture entirely in place.The latest flight was trialing new Boeing wind forecasting equipment that uses almost-live data to make minor route adjustments and cut fuel consumption even further.
As the plane made its approach to Sydney at the end of the flight, the smoke from bush fires near the city -- again linked to climate change -- could be seen billowing on the horizon. Purported jet lag remedies come in all shapes and sizes, from special headbands that bathe the wearer's eyes in blue lights, to pharmaceutical solutions that sometimes come with unpleasant side effects.
One takeaway from the London-Sydney flight courtesy of Monash researcher Tracey Sletten:"It is all about the light. The timing of day that you get light exposure and the intensity of that light is going to help you with your jet lag more than anything else."James D Morgan/Qantas
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