Travel

Flights: Qantas breaks record as first direct New York to Sydney flight touches down


Qantas has broken the record for the first non-stop commercial airline flight from New York to Sydney. The flight landed today in Australia after a whopping flight-time of 19 hours 16 minutes. The Qantas plane took off from JFK airport in New York, USA at 9.27pm on Friday and landed in Sydney at 7.33am on Sunday. The plane did not stop once to refuel during the 10,000 mile-journey – something no other aircraft has achieved.

A total of 49 passengers (mainly Qantas employees) and crew were on the record-breaking flight.

Qantas carried out a series of experiments to assess the health and well-being of those on board.

The passengers were fitted with wearable technology devices and followed a specially designed sleep, food and beverage and physical movement schedule.

Tests ranged from monitoring pilot brain waves, melatonin levels and alertness, through to exercise classes for passengers.

Cabin lighting and in-flight meals were adjusted in ways that are expected to help reduce jetlag, according to the medical researchers and scientists who have partnered with Qantas.

The passengers set their watches to Sydney time after boarding the Qantas flight in the USA.

They were then kept awake until night time fell in eastern Australia. This was achieved through lighting, exercise, caffeine and a spicy lunch instead of the usual dinner, reported MailOnline.

They were not given wine or spirits with their lunch but the Mandala 2018 Chardonnay and the Leogate Shiraz 2015 were available if requested.

This is because alcohol can make jetlag more unpleasant. “Drinking more than a few glasses of alcohol will make jetlag worse,” specialist sleep researcher Dr Yu Sun Bin told Qantas in a statement.

“It might make us fall asleep faster but beyond a certain point, it also disrupts the quality of sleep and causes dehydration.”

When it was time to sleep, the passengers were given a high-carbohydrate meal. They were told to avoid screens and the lights were dimmed to promote sleep through the night.

The plane was flown by four pilots who were on rotation while two further pilots flew as passengers after flying the aircraft to New York.

After arriving in Sydney, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “This is a really significant first for aviation. Hopefully, it’s a preview of a regular service that will speed up how people travel from one side of the globe to the other.

“We know ultra long haul flights pose some extra challenges but that’s been true every time technology has allowed us to fly further. The research we’re doing should give us better strategies for improving comfort and wellbeing along the way.

“Night flights usually start with dinner and then lights off. For this flight, we started with lunch and kept the lights on for the first six hours, to match the time of day at our destination. It means you start reducing the jetlag straight away.

“What’s already clear is how much time you can save. Our regular, one-stop New York to Sydney service (QF12) took off three hours before our direct flight but we arrived a few minutes ahead of it, meaning we saved a significant amount of total travel time by not having to stop,” added Joyce.

The flight was carried out as part of Project Sunrise – Qantas’ goal to operate regular, non-stop commercial flights from the east coast of Australia (Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne) to London and New York.

Two more research Qantas flights are planned as part of the Project Sunrise evaluations – London to Sydney in November and another New York to Sydney in December. Emissions from all research flights will be fully offset.



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.