# Australia-UK: First non-stop flight arrives in London from Perth



## caravanman (Mar 25, 2018)

Amazing to think of such a non-stop globe spanning flight!

Not for me though, I much prefer a couple of shorter hops than one very long flight these days...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-43530332

Ed.


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## B757Guy (Mar 25, 2018)

Fantastic achievement, and congrats to Qantas. However, the 777 still holds the record, by 19 miles! Still, amazing achievement for the plastic jet.


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## jis (Mar 25, 2018)

The Newark - Singapore flight still was and is going to be much longer. But until it is reintroduced using an A350 these still remain the longest segment flown by a twin.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum


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## railiner (Mar 26, 2018)

I'll wait for a New York to Sydney non-stop....


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## Devil's Advocate (Mar 26, 2018)

Buying more efficient aircraft just to waste them on less efficient routes seems counterproductive to me. Personally I don't see the appeal of ultra long haul flying to narrow route destinations. For domestic trips I do prefer a single three hour flight over a six hour connection but for ultra long haul trips I'd rather have two ten hour flights over a single seventeen or eighteen hour flight. A stopover in a major airport provides an opportunity for a walk around and a chance to get better food and drink than you can find on board. My longest single flight so far was 16.5 hours and that was already about 50% longer than my ideal long haul segment length. I can't sleep fifteen hours straight or binge watch three seasons of television reruns in a single sitting so I guess this route isn't targeting folks like me. One thing you don't see mentioned with the newer aircraft is that they all seem to come with this silly mood lighting gimmick that rarely gets turned off like the old lights. Instead you get a ceiling coated with blue/purple light for most/all of the flight. Isn't that supposed to be the worst type of light to fall asleep with? One step forward and two steps back.


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## railiner (Mar 26, 2018)

All good points, DA. On the other hand, if time is of the essence, the few hours saved each way can be very significant. Not to mention, the complications that sometimes arise due to having to make a connection, weather related, or otherwise.....

I have not experienced the 'mood lighting' as yet. I hope it's just a fad that will go away due to complaints, or otherwise...even some cars and homes have this gimmick now...

As for sleeping 15 hours straight, when do you ever do that?


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## Swadian Hardcore (Mar 26, 2018)

I've experienced mood lighting only once on a refurbished AA 777-200ER (and possibly on a AA A321T as well?). Because it was a daytime flight, all of the window shades were up and there was no noticeable effect. I must say that I did enjoy flying on the 10-abreat 777-200ER only because I had the last window seat at the back.

Yes, Qatar's 777-200LR on Doha-Auckland is still the longest flight but it's quite impressive to see the 787-9 doing this. The aircraft has been on a roll with Hawaiian's order, a big order from Turkish, and possibly a big top-up order from AA. Now we're just waiting on IST-SYD though I guess TK may use the A350-900ULR on it.


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## jis (Mar 26, 2018)

railiner said:


> All good points, DA. On the other hand, if time is of the essence, the few hours saved each way can be very significant. Not to mention, the complications that sometimes arise due to having to make a connection, weather related, or otherwise.....
> 
> I have not experienced the 'mood lighting' as yet. I hope it's just a fad that will go away due to complaints, or otherwise...even some cars and homes have this gimmick now...
> 
> As for sleeping 15 hours straight, when do you ever do that?


On all the 15+ hour flights I have been on, and BTW I regularly use ULH whenever I can, they simply turn the lights off, except for the mandatory little lights for providing minimal visibility for walking down the aisle. This is true even on mood light equipped 787 and 77Ws that I have been on.

And no, I don't sleep 15 hours straight. There are books to read, music to listen to moving maps to follow, photos to take out the window of interesting places and things, and of course food to consume.


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## seat38a (Mar 26, 2018)

Its not all about just providing nonstop flights. Stopping in a third party country entails a bunch of rules related to 5th freedom and generally prevents the exercise of any open skies agreement that maybe present between two countries.

When SQ first started their SIN - US nonstop with their A340-500, taking full advantage of the open sky agreement between the US and SIN was given as on of the reasons for starting the flight. I remember reading about this on Airways Magazine when the flight was started. Too bad for SQ at the time the economics of the A340-500 decimated any benefits of open sky between the US and SIN.

Even Delta and United are pulling down their Narita hub for nonstop flights to Asia via SFO for United and Delta via their new Seattle hub using smaller planes.


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## Devil's Advocate (Mar 26, 2018)

railiner said:


> All good points, DA. On the other hand, if time is of the essence, the few hours saved each way can be very significant. Not to mention, the complications that sometimes arise due to having to make a connection, weather related, or otherwise...I have not experienced the 'mood lighting' as yet. I hope it's just a fad that will go away due to complaints, or otherwise...even some cars and homes have this gimmick now... As for sleeping 15 hours straight, when do you ever do that?


A couple hours saved out of a six hour regional trip is relatively huge. Whereas a few hours saved out of a 24-36 hour trip to the other side of the planet is far less relevant to me. In my view these types of ULH flights are more of a gimmick than a long term revenue stream. As soon as the economy takes an extended dive or the travel industry suffers a major setback ultra long haul flights to places like Perth will be some of the first routes to be axed. All the fancy computer designing in the world won't fix the fundamental fact that every additional hour of fuel costs more to carry than the last. The flights which will remain to the bitter end are hub and spoke routes with sardine can pitch. Longest I've been able to sleep on an aircraft was around 6-8 hours, which works reasonably well with a 10-12 hour flight but leaves too much stationary time on a 13+ hour flight.



Swadian Hardcore said:


> Because it was a daytime flight, all of the window shades were up and there was no noticeable effect. I must say that I did enjoy flying on the 10-abreat 777-200ER only because I had the last window seat at the back.


Never seen a daytime trans-Pacific flight with the shades up the whole way. Back in the day the staff would go around asking (or scolding) everyone to close their shades so people could sleep. This really bothered me at first but after a few long haul trips I started slowly migrating to the pro-sleep group and eventually began welcoming the pro-dark attitude. My first experiences with mood lighting were on B787's and A380's but now its spread to more conventional aircraft like 777/330's and 737/320's. It's kind of fun and quirky the first time you see it but after a while you just want to turn it off and get some sleep. Or at least that's how I feel about it.



jis said:


> On all the 15+ hour flights I have been on, and BTW I regularly use ULH whenever I can, they simply turn the lights off, except for the mandatory little lights for providing minimal visibility for walking down the aisle. This is true even on mood light equipped 787 and 77Ws that I have been on. And no, I don't sleep 15 hours straight. There are books to read, music to listen to moving maps to follow, photos to take out the window of interesting places and things, and of course food to consume.


Some airlines turn it off while others seem to leave it on all flight long if nobody asks/begs them to turn it off. Sometimes even that is not enough to get it turned off. The 788/789 doesn't even need mood lighting to keep me awake. The 787's electronic shades are simply incapable of making the cabin truly dark. Instead it's like trying to sleep with a bunch of older LCD televisions stuck on a "black" screen. Everywhere you turn there's a faint grayish glow. Also, just to be clear, my comments are in relation to coach and coach-like travel. If I was much smaller and/or I could mostly travel in premium cabins with a lie-flat beds I might not mind the ULH routes so much.


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