Australia’s Qantas unveiled its plans to conduct the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight operation calling it the “last frontier of global aviation”. The carrier has reported healthy annual net profits on the back of a strong domestic market.
Qantas expects to fly non-stop from Australia to London and New York by 2022. It announced a 17.2 per cent decline in annual net profit of A$852 million after record last year.
“Three years ago, we started an ambitious turnaround programme to make the Qantas Group strong and profitable,” chief executive Alan Joyce said. “We tackled some difficult structural issues, became a lot more efficient and kept improving customer service. Today’s announcements show this plan has well and truly paid off.”
With the plan of introducing world’s longest flight, Qantas will challenge both the giant manufacturers (Airbus and Boeing) to deliver an aircraft capable of flying with greater endurance from Sydney to London, Brisbane to Paris, and Melbourne to New York non-stop with a full payload by 2022.
Qantas will be working with Boeing and Airbus engineers for a year to develop the aircraft with the capability of conducting long flights. The airline will be especially focusing on Boeing 777-X and Airbus A350.
The non-stop flights will cut off up to four hours in the Sydney-London route which is now over 24 hours. Currently, the longest non-stop commercial air service is Qatar Airways’ Doha-Auckland 14,535km flight, with a flight time of over 16 hours.
According to Qantas, the Sydney-London flight would cover a distance of 17,000kms. CEO for Qantas Group Mr. Alan Joyce said, “This is the last frontier of global aviation, this is the antidote to the tyranny of distance and a revolution for air travel in Australia.”
