The Australian airline Qantas is testing, from this Friday, an ultra-long-haul that will fly from New York to Sydney non-stop.
The Australian company Qantas will test human limits this weekend by flying for the first time, for experimental purposes, an ultra-long-haul between New York and Sydney, a 19-hour non-stop journey.
This is the first in a series of three flights in which researchers will assess the physical and emotional impact on passengers of such an air marathon, as ultra-long-haul aircraft are once again popular with airlines. companies thanks to improved fuel efficiency of aircraft.
Including the crew, only about 40 people, mostly Qantas employees, will be on board the Boeing 787-9 when it takes off from New York on Friday. After flying over America and the Pacific, the plane is expected Sunday morning in Australia.
The number of passengers has been limited to minimize weight and allow the aircraft to fly approximately 16,000 kilometers without being refueled.
No other airline has achieved this feat, according to Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, who describes it as “the last frontier of aviation.”
The longest commercial air route in the world is a connection between New York and Singapore launched in 2018 by Singapore Airlines, which lasts 6.30 p.m. according to the company’s website.
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Already, a direct Perth-London flight at 5:45 p.m.
Researchers from two Australian universities will be aboard the Qantas flight to observe how passengers sleep and eat, and monitor their levels of melatonin, the “sleep hormone”.
The pilots will also wear a sensor that will measure their brain activity and their alert state.
The impact of the jet lag will also be observed closely, as there is a 15 hour difference between New York and Sydney.
“Fundamental scientific knowledge of the circadian rhythm shows that the greater the time difference between places of departure and arrival, the more people feel the effects of jet lag, which is also stronger if they fly east. rather than west, “Stephen Simpson, professor at the University of Sydney, told AFP.
“But we also know that people react to jet lag very differently, and more research is needed on the factors of jet lag and travel fatigue, in order to reduce the impact of long-haul flights.”
Qantas launched the first direct commercial link between Australia and Britain last year, with a flight between Perth and London, which lasts 5:45 pm, according to the company’s website.
This considerably shortened the famous “Kangaroo Route”, which when launched in 1947, took four days and nine stopovers between Sydney and London.
The concerns of pilots
The Australian company should also soon test a London-Sydney. It will then have to decide whether these ultra-long-haul flights are economically viable.
But it could face objections from unions concerned about the conformity between the length of these journeys and safety standards.
The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA), which represents the Qantas pilots, estimated that these experimental flights “gave only a limited amount of data which will not reflect actual flight conditions.”
Shane Loney, an AIPA official, demanded a long-term study of the impacts of these flights on the crew.
“The pilots are worried about whether they will have sufficient rest on these ultra-long-haul aircraft to ensure optimum performance and they warn about the flow of initial operations to ensure that they are ensure that there are no unintended consequences. “
A Qantas spokesperson claimed in an email that these experimental flights were only one aspect of ongoing research into the viability of these flights.
Joyce said Qantas has yet to decide whether it will choose Airbus or Boeing to supply the devices that will be used for these flights, if they are officially launched.
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