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The world's longest nonstop flight


The world's longest nonstop flight

The Australian airline Qantas is preparing to run its first nonstop test flight from New York City to Sydney, a route that no airline has been able to do without stopping. At 20 hours, it would be the world's longest flight, surpassing Singapore Airlines' nonstop flight to Newark airport near New York.

Qantas also plans to test a nonstop flight from London to Sydney in the coming months. That route would be about 500 miles longer, adding up to an hour of flight time.

Airplanes and airlines are more technically advanced than ever before, with better fuel efficiency, longer ranges, and computer-aided logistical planning. But as some flights get longer, the question is whether passengers and flight crews can tolerate more hours in the air without a layover to break things up.

Two planes in development from Airbus and Boeing would have that capability. Qantas has said that it will decide by the end of 2019 which one it will use and that it expects to start commercial service as early as 2022.

For the test flight, the airline is using a brand-new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. It's taking delivery of the jet from Boeing's factory in Seattle, then flying it to New York to position for the trial run. To give the plane the range required for the nonstop flight, Qantas will have only about 50 people on board, including this reporter.

Qantas said the test flight would serve as a data-gathering mission, with a team of researchers from Sydney University on board and on the ground monitoring passengers' "sleep patterns, food and beverage consumption, lighting, physical movement and in-flight entertainment to assess impact on health, well-being and body clock."

It said that scientists from Monash University would monitor "crew melatonin levels before, during and after the flights" and that pilots would "wear an EEG (electroencephalogram) device that tracks brain wave patterns and monitors alertness."

- Source: News websites

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