Qantas hopes 15,000km Perth to London haul will be a dream run

Qantas’s historic first non-stop flight from Perth to London tomorrow night will be a test of breakthrough technology.

Qantas cabin crew members Kath Slater and John Spoto in the business class of the Qantas dreamliner. Picture: Colin Murty

Qantas’s historic first non-stop link between Australia and ­Europe tomorrow night will be a test of whether breakthrough technology allows passengers to escape the full effects of jet lag after 17 hours in a plane.

The carrier has configured the Dreamliner for what will be the longest flight on the Qantas network at 14,498km and hopes to ease the dry mouth, indigestion and twin evils of drowsiness and ­insomnia that go with crossing multiple time zones.

Qantas has introduced measures aimed at countering the perception that it’s too long on a plane. “Even though our flight is the fastest route to London, on any long-haul flight, passenger comfort and wellness has to be front of mind,” said Qantas International chief executive Alison Webster.

Qantas will fly direct from Perth to London, red, in 17 hours, as opposed to the first Kangaroo route, blue, which took 93 hours.

“Qantas has 236 seats on our Dreamliner compared with closer to 300 for many of our competitors using the same aircraft. We’ve given passengers more space in every class, including an extra inch of legroom in economy and more personal storage.”

Boeing’s Dreamliner has cabin pressure equivalent to an ­elevation of 6000 feet (1828m) rather than the typical 8000, which should mean less fatigue. Cabin humidity, too, is higher. The B787 also allows a “simul­ated” sunrise over 15 minutes so ­passengers are not jolted awake.

Professor of Sleep Medicine at Charles Perkins Centre Sydney University, Peter Cistulli, will be on the flight to gather “real-world data” on how strategies the centre has helped develop nudge the body clock of travellers towards a new time zone. “We’re actually going to start collecting data,” Professor Cistulli said, adding that “a lot of the evidence base that we have and have used to inform Qantas to date is based on experimental studies and simulations”.

Some flyers will be wearing medical-grade devices to measure their sleep and how they fare.

Among the in-flight tweaks are “pushing back this dark period where we offer people the opportunity to sleep, that’s going to happen about four or five hours into the flight”, Professor Cistulli said.

The work has influenced the food on offer, when it is served and what temperature the cabin would be set to at certain times of the flight. But Ms Webster said this is “only the beginning” as ­­in-flight research starts.

She said Qantas had enjoyed “strong” sales so far for the flight. She said the route “works very well for business travellers who can stop in Perth on their way from the east coast for meetings before carrying on to London”, while there was appeal for ­inbound tourists who wanted to start their jaunt in Perth.

In economy, the seats have a foot net to provide extra support and “mood light” integrated into the seat, as well as more storage for small personal items and a 12-inch high-definition touch screen for in-flight entertainment.

Qantas has put much focus on its 28-seat premium economy cabin, with a seat with an ergonomic leg rest. ­Instead of just slinging backwards, parts of the seat shift to support the body when the recline is used, meaning less encroachment on others.