With Australia tucked away in a little corner of the world, separated from the global north by
expansive continents and oceans, its flag carrier Qantas operates some seriously long routes with
both the Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A380. Taking into account its services to Santiago (Chile) and
Johannesburg (South Africa), the airline currently serves all six inhabited continents of the world.
But, it’s the airline's services to North America and Europe that feature its longest flights. With
all of this in mind, here are its most expansive flights operated by Qantas for June 2023.
The first big point to make prior to listing the five longest flights operated by the
Australian carrier is the fact that we'll be examining individual flights and not routes.
This distinction is particularly important with Qantas, as the
airline has numerous routes (which have a single flight number) that include a stop.
If we were going by longest routes, Sydney to London (QF1/2) would make the list. But since it's
punctuated with a stop in Singapore, this route's Singapore-London leg is outside of our top five.
But again, our focus is on the longest single flights,
where passengers will be in the aircraft, up in the air, for a continuous block of time.
However, we'll be sure to note the other portions of the same flight!
The other interesting thing to note is that all the flights on our list
utilize the Boeing 787-9 - at least at the moment. Past versions of some of our listed
flights have utilized the Airbus A380, while future services might just see the A350-1000.
For now, however, the 787-9 is Qantas' most efficient long-range aircraft and
the most suitable for the airline's longest flights.
With a published distance of 14,010 km (8,705 miles),
the airline's three longest flights exceed Boeing's listed maximum range for the 787-9.
Thus, we can be quite certain that weight limits will be limited for these services.
The airline has one standard configuration for its 787-9s, which sees 236 seats across
three classes: 42 in business, 28 for premium economy, and 166 in economy.
And Finally, before we get into our longest flights - it's important to note that this
list utilizes straight-line distances to rank these flights. Due to real-world routing,
headwinds, tailwinds, and other factors,
some flights of shorter straight-line distances may end up having longer flight durations.
At #5 is the flight between Perth and Rome, which is part of QF5/6.
The Direct distance for this service is 13,354 km (8,298 miles).
It has an Average duration outbound of 15 hours and 27 minutes,
and an Average flight duration inbound of 15 hours and 14 minutes.
Although the Perth-Rome portion is bookable in itself, this leg is technically part of a
longer Sydney-Rome service where the aircraft makes a 90-minute stop in
Perth to refuel and collect passengers. This flight re-commences on June 17th,
as Qantas' Perth to Rome flight is a seasonal operation that was
only rekindled in 2022. At present, this service runs from June through October.
Qantas served Rome continuously between 1948 and 2003. And, after an 18-year absence,
the airline announced in 2021 that it was returning to the Italian capital,
with flights commencing on June 22nd, 2022.
At #4 is the flight between Sydney and Dallas-Fort Worth, operating as QF7/8.
This flight has a Direct distance of 13,804 km (8,578 miles).
Its Average duration outbound is 14 hours and 23 minutes while returning to Australia,
the average flight duration 16 hours and 44 minutes.
With both Qantas and American Airlines being oneworld alliance members,
Qantas' QF7/8 service connects two major hubs,
allowing for a multitude of onward connections with these two close partners.
Sources note that service between Sydney and Dallas commenced in May
2011. This original route saw a Boeing 747-400ER fly non-stop
from Sydney to Dallas but incorporate a stop in Brisbane on the return trip.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, this service encountered difficulties just two weeks
after it began. This saw a jumbo jet forced to divert to Noumea due to stronger-than-expected
headwinds encountered after departing from the United States. The media outlet highlighted the
fact that the airline quote "knew it was stretching the range" of its 747-400ERs.
An Qantas spokesperson told the newspaper at the time,
"We're a few weeks into the new route and we'll keep monitoring
it... We're gaining as much operational experience and getting as much data
as we can from the flights but it's too early to draw any conclusions."
While the Airbus A380 has been deployed on this route in the past,
the 787-9 is the primary type being flown.
At #3 is the flight between Auckland - New York JFK, operating as QF3/4.
This flight has a Direct distance of 14,207 km (8,828 miles).
In terms of average duration, passengers could be in the aircraft for about 15 hours
and 20 minutes flying towards New York, and 16 hours and 53 minutes flying back to Auckland.
At the time of making this video, the route has yet to launch.
But, from June 14th, Qantas will restart its flights from Sydney to New York,
which ceased due to the pandemic.
While this previously saw a stopover in Los Angeles, the airline will now stop in Auckland.
This appears to be more than just a refueling stop, and actually appears to be a fifth-freedom
service - as Qantas flights are bookable between Auckland and New York. This will put it in
direct competition with Air New Zealand's NZ1/2 service, which is also operated by the 787-9.
Speaking of Air New Zealand's flight, we've used average flight duration data from this
service since Qantas' own flights have yet to commence at the time of production.
Coming in at #2 is the flight between Melbourne and Dallas-Fort Worth, operating as QF21/22.
This has a Direct distance of 14,472 km (8,992 miles).
The Average duration outbound is 15 hours and 06 minutes,
while returning to Australia will see an average flight duration of 17 hours and 19 minutes.
It was only just recently, in December 2022, that Qantas launched the first-ever direct
flight between Melbourne and Dallas. With Simple Flying in attendance for the inaugural flight
celebration, we asked the airline if the Airbus A380 could ever be an option for this route.
Qantas Executive Manager Stephen Thompson stated,
"The challenge with the A380 on a route like Melbourne-Dallas is the distance as it's a
seventeen-and-a-half-hour flight, and even on our flights we had operating back to Sydney,
we often had weight restrictions. So the 787-9 is
absolutely the perfect aircraft for a Dallas-Melbourne or Sydney route.
The service began with a thrice-weekly frequency and currently appears to be running five times
per week. The goal, as stated by the airline, is to operate once daily.
And finally, at #1 is Qantas’ Perth to London Heathrow flight, operating as QF9/10.
This has a Direct distance of 14,499 km (9,009 miles) and
an Average duration outbound of 16 hours and 57 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Average flight duration inbound is 16 hours and 08 minutes.
This marathon journey between Perth and London Heathrow began in March 2018,
and was hailed as the airline's longest flight to date as well as the first
regularly scheduled commercial flight linking Australia and Europe non-stop.
Again, this is part of a longer service between Melbourne and London, as the stop
in Perth allows for aircraft refueling and collecting Perth-London passengers.
While the flight duration provided by FlightRadar24.com shows the flight to London
taking an average of 16 hours and 57 minutes, flight QF9 often goes well into its 17th hour.
As far as recent history is concerned, we can see that April 26th's iteration of QF9 saw a flight
duration of 17 hours and 57 minutes! It's unclear, however, if this included any time on the ground.
Of course, we’ll soon see Qantas operate even longer flights with its A350-1000
ULRs as part of its project sunrise. This will see the airline flying direct,
non-stop services from Sydney to both London and New York.
What do you think of these long routes? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!