Many people take long flights, but Qantas is about to change what it means to travel long distances. The airline is introducing a nonstop flight that is 10,576 miles and 20 hours long, beginning at Sydney Airport (SYD) and ending at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR).
This is significant because there has never been a flight this long before. The airline will introduce this nonstop flight toward the end of 2025.
Qantas’ flight evidences that there have been a lot of improvements in airline travel over the past 25 years. In 1997, South African Airways offered the longest flight.
Then, the longest flight spanned from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (JFK) to O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) in Johannesburg. It clocked in at 7,973 miles, which is substantially shorter than the flight that Qantas is about to debut.
It is interesting to note that many long flights either begin or end in the United States. So, it is notable that Qantas is introducing a nonstop flight from Australia to Europe.
There have been other long-haul flights without stops in America, but these are few and far between. Emirates has a flight from Auckland, New Zealand to Dubai, which is 8,824 miles, and Qatar Airways has a flight from Auckland to Doha, Qatar, which is 9,031 miles.
When traveling on a long-haul flight, passengers run the risk of being set back if their flight is canceled. In the United States, President Biden is attempting to mitigate the losses passengers endure because of canceled flights.
His administration is in the process of proposing new regulations that would make it mandatory for airlines to compensate their passengers for food and hotel rooms if a flight is canceled. This could transform the traveling experience for passengers.
Of course, negotiations are still in process for these new American regulations, so for now, we can anticipate Qantas’ new long-haul flight with excitement.