Longest Commercial Flight In History: Qantas Pulls Off Airline Feat

Australian airline Qantas celebrated the completion of a historic test flight Sunday morning. The flight, QF7879, took 50 passengers nonstop from New York to Sydney in 19 hours and 16 minutes on a new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. All told, the flight covered around 10,066 miles.

“This is a really historic moment for Qantas, a really historic moment for Australian aviation and a really historic moment for world aviation,” Alan Joyce, Qantas chief executive officer and one of the flight’s passengers, said of the achievement.

The intent of this flight was to research the potential impacts of ultra-long-haul air travel on passengers and crew members. As no aircraft is currently able to complete such a journey with a full load, Reuters reports that certain limitations were in place. The plane took of with maximum fuel, limited passengers, limited baggage, and no cargo. Among the factors measured included sleep, consumption, activity, and the melatonin levels of crew members. The pilots’ brain waves were also measured using special devices.

Qantas also plans to begin test flights from London to Sydney soon and make a decision whether to begin offering the flights by 2022 or 2023.

“The flight was very successful from two components,” captain Sean Golding said. “The first one was research. And also the feat of distance – that flight last night was 16,200 kilometres. We were airborne for 19 hours and 16 minutes, and we landed here in Sydney with a comfortable 70 minutes of fuel.”

Business Insider's David Slotnick was invited to take part in the flight and had good things to say about the experience.

"I felt better after this flight than I've ever felt after a long-haul flight, including those on which I was lucky enough to sit in a first or business-class cabin with a lie-flat seat," Slotnick said.

Still, Slotnick said that he could not imagine the flight working as well with a full passenger load in economy class, saying that these are issues the airline will have to work out before it can begin offering the flight to everyone.