Flights half way around the globe are set to be even less comfortable than expected. That is, if the marathon 20-hour non-stop services from Sydney to London get off the ground at all.
Qantas Airways Ltd. ditched the notion of rolling out bunks, beds, a gym or even a creche for passengers enduring the world’s longest commercial flight. Instead, they’ll be given a space to have a stretch and a drink of water, Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce said Monday in Seoul.
The more spartan comfort levels underscore Qantas’s challenge as it tries to break through what it calls aviation’s last frontier. There are other barriers, too: While Joyce said the planes proposed by Boeing Co. and Airbus SE for the ultra long-haul flights can make the distance, neither can carry the weight that Qantas initially targeted.
