Qantas Tests World’s Longest Flight

This Friday October 18, Qantas is testing the new ‘world’s longest flight’ from New York to Sydney.

The flight, at just over 16,000kms and 20 hours long, presents several potential challanges, including how to keep passangers comfortable as well as pilots and cabin crew rested and alert.

The flight, dubbed ‘Project Sunrise’, will have only 50 people on board. Qantas will operate a brand new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Qantas said the test flight would serve as a data-gathering mission, with a team of researchers from Sydney University on board and on the ground monitoring passangers’ sleep patters, food & beverage consumption, lighting, physical movement and in-flight entertainment to assess the impact on health, well-being and body clock.