A 19-hour direct flight from London to Sydney has taken off from Heathrow.
Qantas has run the flight from London to Sydney, as part of a trial to test the potential commercial route.
The Australian airline describes it as a “research flight” to test the effects of the 19 hour 30 minute journey on passengers and crew.
There are 40 people, including crew, on board the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner which left London at 6am on Thursday, and will arrive into Sydney around lunch time on Friday.
A Dreamliner aircraft can usually carry between 230 and 300 people depending on its interior set-up.
Qantas set the record for the longest ever commercial flight last month when it flew from New York to Sydney with that journey taking 19 hours and 16 minutes.
The airline also launched a near 17-hour flight between Perth and London in March 2018 and has proven to be one of the airline’s most popular routes ever.
This has prompted the testing of the new, even longer flight from London to the east coast of Australia.
It is mostly Qantas employees on board and they are fitted with monitors to track their sleep patterns, food and drink intake, as well as their physical movement and entertainment.
Pilots are being monitored for their brainwave patterns and alertness throughout the flight and will be used to gather data for the best work and rest patterns, Qantas said.
The test flights are all part of the airline’s Project Sunrise to test the viability of routes with another test flight between New York and Sydney expected later this year.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
