Dubbed the Kangaroo Route, the flight from Perth, Australia to London used to be a long trip for the passengers. The trip covered roughly 14,500 km, or 9,000 miles, and used to take an average of 20 hours, with part of that time dedicated to either refueling or switching to another plane. On March 24, however, Qantas Airlines set a record by becoming the first airline to make a direct trip between the two countries without stopping. The Qantas flight took around 17 hours, three hours shorter than the previous time.
The London to Perth flight was powered by Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliner. Boeing designed this specific Dreamliner to be more accommodating, knowing that one of its main priorities was to keep passengers comfortable during the long flight. The Qantas 787-9 Dreamliner seats 236 people, which is significantly lower than many other airlines that use the same plane. However, Qantas reconfigured the plane to improve customer experience. It has a higher cabin pressure with lower humidity and cabin noise, larger windows, improved air quality and technology to reduce turbulence.
“Boeing designed the Dreamliner with features to reduce jet lag, turbulence and noise,” Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce added.
Qantas also made sure to keep other aspects in mind, such as cabin layout and meal service to improve customer experience. They created a special menu that helps a person’s body to better deal with jet lag.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce believes that with all the publicity the trip has received, the flight will be profitable from day one. If it is as successful as Joyce claims, it will have a great impact on the amount of new orders for Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners in the future. They already have an order for eight more aircrafts in the future.
The airline already has its sights set on more long distance journeys like the Perth-London flight for their future. They are currently looking at creating a non-stop flight from Brisbane to Chicago, Dallas or Seattle. By 2022 they also plan to have a flight from Sydney (and possibly Melbourne and Brisbane) to New York and London.
