Earlier this week, an Airbus 350-1000ULR set the world record for the longest ever flight by a commercial aircraft by being airborne for 24 hours and 24 minutes and covering a distance of 23,075 kms, flying from Melbourne to Toulouse. According to the flight tracking provider Flightradar24.com, the trip was the second most-tracked flight on its portal with more then 3.6 million tracking it. The first was the 2022 flight from Edinburgh to London carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin (5 million folks took out time to track that!).
Connecting Australia with London has always been one of the last-frontier challenges of aviation. In the 40s, flying between the two continents involved almost seven intermediate hops across four days, which gave the route its legendary nickname – the Kangaroo Route.
In 2018, Qantas started a Perth-London service which clocked 18 hours. Sydney is a further 3000km east of Perth making it a more challenging route for a direct connect. Qantas’ test flight this week with the A350 is a step towards solving that puzzle. With the first aircraft expected to be delivered in April 2027, the service is expected to commence from October 2027.
Singapore Airlines’ service from New York and Newark are the current top two longest commercial flights followed by Qatar Airways’ service from Auckland. Check out the top 10 list here.
Airbus has some fascinating details about the test flight, instrumentation and behind-the-scenes prep on their website.
PS: Australia was a penal-colony of Britain and over the years was a key ally of the Crown fighting on its side in both the Great Wars. So improving connectivity between the two has always been a hot topic. I’ve written earlier on Australia’s penal-colony history.
Leaving you with this Tweet of a person reminiscing about the Kangaroo Route. This world no longer exists now:
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