Stop-overs may soon be a thing of the past.
It wasn’t too long ago that Singapore Airlines announced that they are launching the world’s longest ever commercial flight.
The flight will depart from Singapore and will land a total of 18 hours and 25 minutes later at Newark airport in New Jersey.
Now, that looks set to be beaten.
This time last year, Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce publicly challenged Boeing Co. and Airbus SE to design a plane capable of making a viable direct flight from Sydney to London or New York.
Now he has announced that the challenge has been met and that they have come up with an aircraft capable of handling the 20-hour direct flight.
During an interview in Qantas’ central Sydney offices with Bloomberg, Joyce stated that he is looking for the flight to involve more amenities than usual, as the uninterrupted 20 hours on board would need to be approached differently than a normal flight.
“We’re now comfortable that we think we have vehicles that could do it,” he said.
“We’re challenging ourselves to think outside the box. Would you have the space used for other activities – exercise, bar, creche, sleeping areas, and berths? Boeing and Airbus have been actually quite creative in coming up with ideas.”
A gym? A bar? Who needs a hotel when you’ve got it all on the flight in the first place??
The first direct flight is expected to take place in 2022.
Now all we have to do is figure out how to deal with the jet lag.
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