Sydney to London. It’s a route I’m sure at least a few of you have done before (including me) and I’ll tell you, it takes forever and ever and ever. The forward leg to London takes just over 25 hours and the return leg takes about 23 hours. I’ll tell you, it’s one even the keenest of flyers would start to hate after realizing that after 13-14 hours on an aircraft, you have to sit around in a terminal in a weird timezone and you still have 7 hours till London. British Airways, Qantas, Qatar, Emirates, Singapore Airlines (and probably a few others too) operate the route stopping either at Singapore or the UAE. I mentioned the Perth-London direct route a couple of days ago which you can view [here], but what about the people who don’t wanna spend 5 hours on a 737? What about the east coast of Australia? (You can now book tickets on direct Perth to London flights - #18 by MishaCamp). In the eastern capitals, we have a lot more routes than our WA friends. However, we have not got a direct flight to London or the U.K in that matter. I might sound like a whinger but I think the east coast deserves a fair go. And we might be getting one in the next few years.
Airbus seem to have aircraft capable flying the route. The A350-900ULR has a range of 18,000km. The route is only about 17,000km. The 20-hour flight would shave up to 3 hours off the current offerings. Qantas is interested. They could charge a premium price for the flight. However, if you’re in cattle class you’ll be in for a squeeze. 20 hours in a metal tube could cause serious medical problems. Which isn’t good. Not at all good. It would be good for people in business and first though. Getting to meetings 3 hours earlier on the other side of the world could mean a lot. 2022 could be when the first direct Kangaroo route flight launches, but that’s ages away
What are your thoughts on the possibly of a direct Kangaroo route flight?
I have to agree with Josh, I have personally flown London-Sydney about 5 times there and back and it’s bad enough on a plane for 14 hours let alone 20.
No it creates it, your ears need to pop to balance the pressure otherwise they can be damaged and your eardrums can burst thats why they can and do pop
I had a bad case of that while flying back from the States last year. Totally deaf in one hear, until I yawned really loudly and the hearing came back in one massive, painful pop.
I don’t think, should I ever need to, that I would use this service as I really struggle to sit on a plane for more than 10 hours. I never sleep and economy for 20 hours would be my version of hell. Also seems to me like their fares for the London-Perth service at least are stupidly high.
Good luck. I would NEVER want to fly that route. Even with 4 flight crew you’re going to be knackered into Sydney and those of us who’ve flown there know how friendly and accommodating Australian ATC can be!
Anyway, I’ve always liked the layovers in Singapore and Bangkok personally. :)
I think it’s way too long. Flying Non-stop won’t be cheap due to fuel cost and Qantas have to buy few A350-900ULRs to enable this commencement. And A350-900 is a brand new aircraft for Qantas so it would require pilot’s training and familiarization which wouldn’t be cheap. If the demand isn’t enough, it would be a waste of money and it would be a huge loss for Qantas
People will always take the cheapest option. In this case I have to say, one stop option. Either it’s via Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, or Istanbul. I meant you don’t want to fly in Sydney-London direct nonstop but you have to pay the same price which can be used in Sydney-Dubai-London in Emirates with Business Class
From a leisure traveller’s perspective, definitely. But the business traveller segment for a LHR-SYD flight is huge, I would say QF has a decent chance.
Typically Qantas offer the best legroom in domestic cattle class in Qantas in Australia. You’ll be okay in that department, however, I just feel a lot more comfortable on bigger planes, just a personal opinion though
I like this idea, it definitely sounds good on paper.
But a 20 hour flight will almost certainly cause health issues, as was stated. I would much rather have a stop between if it means no health issues. The one solution I can think of for this would be to have a “first class only” airplane. This is uncommon but has been done before.
