Sydney, October 21, 2019 : History was created in aviation industry when a single longest flight travelled from from New York to Sydney. Qantas Flight QF7879 travelled from New York to Sydney took 19 hours and 16 minutes.
This was trial flight by the airline and two more trials will be conducted before launching commercial operations on the route. 49 people travelled on the Boeing 787-9 to minimise the weight on board and give the plane sufficient fuel range to travel more than 16,000 kilometres (9,500 miles) without re-fuelling.
Overjoyed by the success, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce called it “a really historic moment” for both the airline and world aviation. Talking to reporters in Sydney, he said this is the first of three test flights that’s going to come up with recommendations about how we manage pilot fatigue (and) how we actually manage passenger jetlag.
He further said that after 19 hours on this flight, I think we’ve gotten this right. It feels like we’ve been on a flight a lot shorter than that.” Qantas partnered with two Australian universities to monitor how jetlag affected the health of passengers and crew members as they crossed multiple time zones.
It is leant that passengers set their watches to Sydney time and were kept awake until night fell in eastern Australia with lighting, exercise, caffeine and a spicy meal.
Meanwhile the Australian and International Pilots Association, which represents Qantas pilots, has raised concerns about whether pilots will get enough quality rest during ultra long-range flights to maintain peak performance.