The World’s First Nonstop Flight From Europe To Australia Is A Whopping 17 Hours Long

Qantas

It’s now possible to fly directly from the United Kingdom to Australia. You can fly on Qantas’ new Perth-to-London route without a single stop — a whopping 17 hours in the sky. This is the first commercial service to directly connect Europe with Australia.

For those who have never flown to a destination down under, you usually make a stop in Dubai or Singapore before continuing to Australia. But now, you can do the entire trip in one leg.

The plane that takes travelers around the globe is tailored for long flights. The plane, called the 787-9 Dreamliner, has windows that are 65 percent larger than the average airplane. Inside, the plane is monitored to make pressure, humidity and lighting match human bodies’ natural rhythms. The goal? To make spending more than half a day above the clouds feel more like being on the ground.

The countdown is on, our inaugural Perth to London takes flight this Saturday 24th March. Which 787-9 do you think will make the maiden journey?

A post shared by Qantas (@qantas) on Mar 21, 2018 at 1:10am PDT

Even the menus are customized for 17 hours on a plane, with nutrition and hydration taken into account. You could get everything from comfort food to a poke bowl.

If you’re worried about how the flight crew manages on a 17-hour journey, take a deep breath. No single pilot is flying for the entire flight. There are actually four pilots for the Europe-to-Australia route, with rotating shifts.

The Perth-to-London flight is Qantas’ longest, although the airline also operates a direct flight path from Dallas, Texas to Sydney, Australia. According to Travel and Leisure, the Perth-to-London route is the second-longest in the world, making it easier than ever to explore the Oceania region.