As Qantas takes long-haul to the next level, Louise Jones examines the history and logistics of linking London to Sydney and beyond...
It is little surprise that Qantas’ Project Sunrise research flights were among the most talked about aviation stories of 2019. Hyperbole aside, there were genuine feats of engineering taking place; with the aptly titled QF7879 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from London/Heathrow to Sydney/Kingsford Smith crowned the world’s longest passenger flight by a commercial airline for both distance and duration. Scientists were on board the ultra long-haul sectors collecting valuable crew and passenger data to help analyse the impact of travelling for almost 20 hours at altitude.
Less than a month after the non- stop London to Sydney sortie, Qantas announced that following “detailed evaluation” it had selected a slightly modified version of the Airbus A3501000 as its preferred aircraft for any future commercial roll-out. Its December 13 statement put to bed any speculation that the Aussie flag carrier could opt for a variant of Boeing’s 777X for the proposed ultra long-haul connections. Qantas stated that the A350’s Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines have “a strong reliability record after…
