Qantas marathon flight flown entirely in daylight, delivering scenic views for passengers

Qantas’s longest ever commercial flight has touched down in Darwin after flying more than 17 hours in continuous daylight.

107 excited passengers ready for departure from Buenos Aires to Australia. Picture: Qantas

Qantas has completed its record-breaking repatriation flight, carrying 128 people more than 15,000km from Buenos Aires to Darwin, in 17 hours and 25 minutes.

Flight QF14 touched down in the Northern Territory capital on Wednesday night after leaving Buenos Aires at 12.44pm local time and tracking south of Argentina before skirting the edge of Antarctica.

The service crossed the Australian coastline at 5.28pm AEDT, and landed in Darwin at 8.09pm AEDT (6.39pm local time), becoming the longest commercial flight ever operated by Qantas.

Remarkably, the marathon flight flew entirely in daylight and experienced average headwinds of up to 35km/h and temperatures as low as minus 75 Celsius over Antarctica.

An amazing view of Antarctica from the cockpit. pic.twitter.com/7iJranqH3v

— Qantas (@Qantas) October 7, 2021

A Boeing 787-9 named Great Barrier Reef was used for the service, which exceeded the aircraft’s standard range of 14,800km, and burnt through 126,000 litres of fuel.

The reduced passenger load made the extra distance possible with the 128 people on board well under the 236 the 787-9 is configured to accommodate.

Of those who made the journey, 107 were Australians returning home, four were pilots and 17 cabin crew, engineers and ground staff.

Captain Alex Passerini said a team of flight planning analysts had spent the past month planning the route based on weather and wind conditions across the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica.

He said Qantas had a proud history in pioneering ultra-long haul flights due to Australia’s geographical location, and this one was no exception.

Qantas has made history with the longest continuous commercial flight from Buenos Aires to Darwin. Picture: FlightRadar24

“Qantas has always stepped up to a challenge, especially when it comes to long-haul travel, and this flight is an excellent example of the capabilities and attention to detail of our flight planning team,” said Captain Passerini.

“There were some truly spectacular views as we tracked across Antarctica, which was an extra bonus for our passengers who were very glad to be coming home.”

The flight was one of more than 300 operated by Qantas on behalf of the federal government since the pandemic struck early last year and borders closed, to help bring stranded Australians home.

The repatriation process has seen the airline fly to 31 overseas destinations including 19 not part of Qantas’ regular network, such as Delhi, Istanbul, Wuhan and Frankfurt.

Longer services have been operated by Qantas as “research flights” for Project Sunrise, which aims to deliver non-stop flights between Australia’s east coast and cities like New York and London by 2024-25.

QF14 also marked the first time that a flight has landed in Darwin from every inhabited continent in one year, all operated by Qantas.

Darwin is the only Australian airport to achieve such a milestone, putting it in the same category as London Heathrow, Doha in Qatar and Dubai.

Originally published as Qantas marathon flight flown entirely in daylight, delivering scenic views for passengers