Non-stop Sydney-to-London flights could happen by 2022, says Qantas
Apr 5, 2017, 7:02 pm
#1
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Non-stop Sydney-to-London flights could happen by 2022, says Qantas
Non-stop Sydney-to-London flights could happen by 2022, says Qantas
Fascinating! 
Cheers & Safe Travels. ^
Both Airbus and Boeing now offer aircraft that appear to be capable of flying non-stop commercial flights from Sydney to London – the “Holy Grail” for the Australian carrier Qantas.
As long as oil prices don’t go much higher than about US$70 a barrel, the 20-hour flight can be financially viable, and could be on schedules within five years, aviation experts say.
Airbus has increased the range of its A350-900ULR to 9,700 nautical miles (17,960km) from the 8,700 nautical miles announced when it sold the plane to Singapore Airlines in 2015 for delivery the next year, a spokesman said. Including headwinds, the Sydney-London flight is equivalent to 9,600 nautical miles.
“These aircraft, we think, are potentially real goers on these routes,” the Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, said, referring to the A350-900ULR and the bigger but less advanced Boeing 777-8.
As long as oil prices don’t go much higher than about US$70 a barrel, the 20-hour flight can be financially viable, and could be on schedules within five years, aviation experts say.
Airbus has increased the range of its A350-900ULR to 9,700 nautical miles (17,960km) from the 8,700 nautical miles announced when it sold the plane to Singapore Airlines in 2015 for delivery the next year, a spokesman said. Including headwinds, the Sydney-London flight is equivalent to 9,600 nautical miles.
“These aircraft, we think, are potentially real goers on these routes,” the Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, said, referring to the A350-900ULR and the bigger but less advanced Boeing 777-8.
Cheers & Safe Travels. ^
Apr 6, 2017, 3:02 am
#6
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TBH, I cannot see myself spending 20+ hours even in J or F... And the cost? Considering, I can get one stop fares from LH (using TG/SQ/CX connections in the Asia) for the half of current QF fares... No, thank you...
Apr 6, 2017, 4:20 am
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Apr 6, 2017, 5:44 am
#10
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Also on days with favourable conditions, can have case where A-B arrives maybe even an hour ahead of schedule, but since the B-C flight still leaves at the same time, rather than gain n earlier arrival, just get a longer time hanging around an airport
Last edited by Dave Noble; Apr 6, 2017 at 5:58 am
Apr 10, 2017, 3:46 pm
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But it often is not sit around for a couple of hours, it is the wait to disembark, go through security again (which in itself can take sometime waiting in line), a bit of free time, then line up again for boarding.....still I have yet to take an ULH or a sector longer than SYD-LAX and even when I travel to/from Europe I have in the past 10 years made a point of stopovers in Asia, so I do not think this flight is very appealing to me.
Apr 10, 2017, 4:10 pm
#14
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But it often is not sit around for a couple of hours, it is the wait to disembark, go through security again (which in itself can take sometime waiting in line), a bit of free time, then line up again for boarding.....still I have yet to take an ULH or a sector longer than SYD-LAX and even when I travel to/from Europe I have in the past 10 years made a point of stopovers in Asia, so I do not think this flight is very appealing to me.
I can see there being people who would rather a longer single flight rather than have to go through the hassles of the connection
Personally, I like shorter sectors and only like to travel by day, but do know people who hate connecting and would prefer to just stay in one place until the end of the journey