First direct flight from Australia to UK lands at Heathrow
March 25, 2018
Australian airline Qantas has made aviation history by directly connecting Australia and Europe. DW also looks at some of the other longest flights in the world.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Wood
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The first direct flight from Australia to the United Kingdom landed at Heathrow airport on Sunday morning. The Qantas flight departed from the Western Australian city of Perth, cutting about three hours off the travel time to Europe by not having stopovers in Asia or the Middle East.
The 17-hour flight, flown by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, covered a distance of more than 9,000 miles (14,484 km).
The flight marked a "historic day for aviation," said Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce. "From today it will be the first link between Australia and Europe that has ever occurred non-stop in aviation. We are so excited."
The old "Kangaroo Route" from Sydney to London 70 years ago had nine stopovers and took four days. This flight traveled at around 900 kilometers per hour and used 20 percent less fuel than similar sized airplanes.
Mena Rawlings, Britain's high commissioner to Australia, described the new service as a "game-changer." "To have the opportunity to get on a plane at Heathrow and step out in Perth is just phenomenally exciting and I'm sure we are going to see lots and lots of people taking advantage of that."
The crew of Qantas' first direct flight from Perth to LondonImage: Getty Images/AFP/G. Wood
The world's longest flights
The longest commercial journey is Qatar Airways Flight 921 from Auckland, New Zealand to Qatar, which flies passengers over 14,500 km (9,000 miles) in nearly 18 hours on Boeing 777 airliners.
Emirates Airline Flight 449, with Airbus A380 superjumbos, from Auckland to Dubai, travels a distance of 14,200 km in 17 and a half hours.
The new Qantas service is part of the airline's plans to eventually connect Europe with airports on Australia's east coast.
The longest flight from the United States was launched last year by United Airlines and connects Los Angeles' LAX airport to Singapore using 787s.
There is also United Airline's flight from Houston to Australia, crossing 13,800 km in around 17 and a half hours, also on 787s.
The longest commercial flights today do not compare to the now discontinued Singapore Airlines Flight 22, which covered a distance of over 15,000 km. Using Airbus A340 airliners, the route from Singapore to New York's Newark airport was operational from 2004 to 2013. The service was suspended to cut costs, however the airline says there are plans to reopen the route, using the ultra-long range version of the Airbus A350.
The large, often stylized logos on airplane tails allow you to immediately recognize the airline when you spot a plane. Many use birds in their designs, but all companies want to let you know where they are based.
Image: S. Barbour/Getty Images
Qantas
The plane tails of Australia's national airline Qantas are embellished with a stylized kangaroo, hence the nickname "the Flying Kangaroo!" Even from a far distance, it's easy to tell which continent the plane comes from. After all, kangaroos only exist in Australia. This animal has become a sort of national logo, appearing not only on planes but also on Australia's coat of arms and currency.
Image: S. Barbour/Getty Images
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
In contrast to its Australian counterpart, the logo of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is more factual. The abstract symbol of a crown in combination with the three letters KLM leaves no doubt as to which country this plane comes from. And that's what logos are all about.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/R. de Waal
Gambia Bird
The tiny West African state is a paradise for birds and their friends. More than 500 different kinds of birds live in the Gambia. Tourists don't even need to take birdwatching trips because many birds can be spotted in hotel gardens — they're just everywhere! Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Gambian national airline went for a bird as its logo when it was founded in 2012. Service ceased in 2014.
Image: flickr/Transport Pixels
Alaska Airlines
The Seattle-based airline has proved its creativity on several occasions during its 90-year-long history. The company was among the first airlines to sell tickets online and to offer online and automatic check-ins. Like its name, the logo of the airline refers to Alaska and its indigenous inhabitants, the Inuit.
Image: Reuters
Iran Air
A trade embargo and political tensions between 1980 and 2016 made it hard for Iran's state airline with headquarters at Tehran's Mehrabad airport to modernize its planes. But maybe the "homa," the mythological bird used in the logo, came to the rescue of the airline. According to Persian mythology, "homa" is believed to bring luck and joy while living its life entirely in the sky.
Image: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt
Air Tanzania
Over the years Tanzania's national airline has also had to face numerous challenges. Sometimes its fleet was in the air, sometimes not, and the airline's owners also frequently changed. It's certainly not the fault of the giraffe logo. The world's tallest animal looks so friendly and inviting on the plane;what passenger could say no to stepping onboard for a trip to Mount Kilimanjaro?
Image: flickr/stevesaviation
Takeoff into the future
A crane has served as the logo of Germany's largest airline since 1918. Some types of cranes cover enormous distances when they migrate, but others are considered pests due to their enormous appetites. Lufhansa is now flying into the future with a new logo design. The symbol will be the same, but the colors will change. Goodbye yellow and gray, hello simple white and blue!
