The historic first non-stop flight from Australia to Europe was conducted by Qantas flight QF9, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with more than 230 passengers and crew on board. The flight from Perth, Australia to Britain landed in London on Sunday after 17 hours and 5 minutes of journey completing 14,875 km of distance.
The flight landed at Heathrow airport at 5.03 a.m. the game changer landing marked the first commercial passenger jet journey direct between Australia and Europe.
The Dreamliner, which Qantas says has 20 per cent better fuel efficiency than similar-sized aircraft, covered the 14,875km with no major issues. QF9 departed Perth at 6.57 p.m., on Saturday with the company CEO Alan Joyce, Australia’s Trade and Tourism Minister Steve Ciobo and journalists on board.
Passengers did have to face small period of some turbulence as the plane skirted Cyclone Marcus, a storm off the west coast of Australia, shortly after take-off.
After the touch down, Captain Lisa Norman, who was one of four working pilots on board thanked peoples on board for being part of the special historical event.
Before the flight, Joyce said the earliest Qantas flights between Australia and the UK – known as the “kangaroo route” – had taken four days and involved seven stops.
The flight will be the world’s second-longest after Qatar Airways’ route from Doha to Auckland, which spans 14,529km, according to the International Air Transport Association.
