World's Longest New York-Sydney Commercial Flight Makes History

Aviation history was made on Sunday when Australian airline Qantas successfully completed the first-ever nonstop commercial flight from New York to Australia. The 16,200 km journey lasted 19 hours and 15 minutes.

The Dreamliner, designated QF7879, became the longest commercial flight in the world, surpassing Singapore Airlines’ regular service between Singapore and New York.

Touchdown!

19 hours, 15 minutes
New York to Sydneyhttps://t.co/v39ZrePTJR#QF7879 #ProjectSunrise pic.twitter.com/7A42JkgMyA

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) October 19, 2019

Onboard were 49 “guinea pig” passengers, pilots, crew, scientists and medical experts, who to see how the human body copes with “ultra long-haul” journeys.

The 16,013 km flight was the first of three Qantas' Project Sunrise test flights.

Qantas wants to begin flying the time-saving route commercially as soon as 2022, along with other direct fights between London, NY and the east coast of Australia by 2023.

Here’s how the journey unfolded in real time:

With 50 passengers and crew on board, Australia’s national carrier Qantas flew a new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for 19 hours 16 minutes from New York to Sydney. It was the world's first ultra-long-haul commercial test flight https://t.co/Ay03xoXwaD pic.twitter.com/xBJWKw0q1t

— Reuters India (@ReutersIndia) October 21, 2019