Who Gets Packed In
Qantas Airways plans to launch the world’s longest direct flight next year, a service of up to 22 hours nonstop between London and Sydney. The Sydney-based airline on Thursday unveiled the first of its specially modified Airbus A350-1000 jets that will regularly make the 17,015-kilometer (10,573-mile) journey from October next year. The flights between cities on opposite sides of the world are expected to take between 19 and 22 hours, a marathon in the sky built around the needs of an airline, not the people trapped inside it.
The current longest regularly scheduled direct flight is Singapore Airlines’ route between its city-state base and New York City. The distance of 15,349 kilometers (9,537 miles) is flown in under 19 hours. Singapore’s Flight SQ24 does not fly economy passengers.
Qantas’ customized version A350-1000ULR will carry only 238 passengers, far fewer than the 480 a standard Airbus A350-1000 can hold. Of those 238 seats, 140 will be in what is colloquially termed “cattle class” on flights between London and Sydney. The airline says the smaller passenger configuration is meant to enhance comfort and compensate for an additional tank carrying 20,000 liters (5,283 gallons) of fuel.
The Economy of Exhaustion
Sharon Petersen, chief executive officer of AirlineRatings, an Australia-based website that ranks airlines around the world on their products and safety, said Qantas economy seats between London and Sydney would have more leg room than most long haul airlines. Economy passengers would also have access to a so-called Wellbeing Zone between economy and premium economy cabins where they could stretch their limbs and help themselves to drinks and snacks.
But Petersen also said she would prefer to break up the journey than fly 22 hours in economy. “The reason for that is 22 hours is really daunting. If you get sat next to someone who’s smelly, is perhaps really unwell and coughing, perhaps there’s a baby sitting next to you that’s having an uncomfortable flight or an oversized passenger who really needs two seats,” Petersen said. She regards two shorter flights as a safer option in economy. “If you’ve got it wrong on one flight, you might be okay on the next. You get a break,” she said.
The farthest an economy passenger can currently fly on a direct flight in the world is with Qantas between London and Perth on Australia’s west coast. That is a distance of 14,499 kilometers (9,009 miles) flown 16 and 18 hours. Sydney is on Australia’s east coast.
Qantas has said passengers will pay more for direct flights when tickets go on sale in February than they do for flights that make a stop in Singapore. Qantas says the direct flights will save up to four hours of travel time. Petersen said flying business class direct was a great option for passengers who could potentially sleep for eight hours without the interruption of disembarking at Singapore.
Profit First, People Second
Petersen said the smaller passenger configuration of Qantas’ A350-1000ULR was to enhance comfort and to compensate for the fuel load. She said such long haul flights rely on premium passengers to make profits. “Because the flight is so long, they can’t rely on cargo because of the weight. So it really is a passenger-heavy aircraft and a premium passenger-heavy aircraft at that to get the profit margin,” Petersen said.
That is the operating logic laid bare: a record-breaking route, a stripped-down cabin, and a pricing structure that asks passengers to pay more for the privilege of being carried farther by a corporation chasing margin across 17,015 kilometers. The airline says the direct flights will save up to four hours of travel time, while the people in economy are left to weigh whether a nonstop ordeal is worth the cost.
Once the Sydney-London direct route was established, Qantas said its next ultralong-haul direct service will be Sydney-New York, a shorter distance of 16,013 kilometers (9,950 miles). The airline’s expansion keeps moving along the same track: longer routes, fewer seats, higher fares, and a premium class designed to keep the whole machine profitable.
What the Airline Calls Progress
The first of the specially modified Airbus A350-1000 jets was unveiled on Thursday, with flights set to begin from October next year. Tickets for the direct flights go on sale in February. Qantas says the route will be the world’s longest direct flight, a title that sounds impressive until the numbers are read in full: 22 hours, 238 passengers, 140 economy seats, and a business model built around who can pay most to endure the distance.
The airline’s pitch is efficiency and comfort. The reality is a long-haul system organized around premium passengers, extra fuel, and a cabin layout that turns a transcontinental journey into another exercise in sorting people by what they can afford.