Qantas is planning to deliver non-stop flights from Australia’s east coast to London and New York in the next five years.

However, the goal will only be possible if manufacturers Airbus or Boeing can make a jet capable to going the distance.

No aircraft that is currently in service has the range to fly the direct routes with passengers and luggage at full capacity.

However, two next-generation aircraft – Boeing’s 777X and a long range version of Airbus’ A350 – are close.

 

Qantas is planning to deliver non-stop flights from Australia's east coast to London and New York in the next five years

Qantas is planning to deliver non-stop flights from Australia’s east coast to London and New York in the next five years

On Friday, as part of its financial results announcement, Australia’s national carrier will announce that it has challenged the manufacturers to create an aircraft that could take travellers from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane to London and New York – without a stopover needed.

The longest flight route in the world at the moment is Qatar Airway’s non-stop flight from Doha to Auckland, which launched in February.

The airline flies a Boeing 777-200LR to cover the more than 14,500km journey, taking almost 17 hours.

Qantas’ proposed routes from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane would slash up to four hours off the total journey, currently at around 24 hours including connection time on the ground.

It would cut up to three hours on flights to New York, which CEO Alan Joyce has previously called the airline’s ‘holy grail’ city.

The proposed non-stop flights from Sydney to London would take 20 hours and 20 minutes, cutting three hours and 45 minutes off the journey time.

The Sydney-New York flight is estimated to take 18 hours and seven minutes, saving travellers two hours and 43 minutes due to the lack of a stopover.

The time savings come mostly from eliminating transit time from stopovers but also from removing the need to slow down to descend, land and taxi to the gate.

It comes after Qantas announced it will have its first direct flights from Australia to Europe on offer next year.

The first flights on the Perth-London route, the airline’s longest, using the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner – taking around 17 hours to cover 14,498km – will take off in March 2018.

On the new Perth-London route, Mr Joyce said it was a game-changer for travel, tourism and trade.

‘When Qantas created the Kangaroo Route to London in 1947, it took four days and nine stops,’ he said last year.

‘Now it will take just 17 hours from Perth non-stop. This is a game-changing route flown by a game-changing aircraft.’

 

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