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Qantas Flights 7 and 8

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Qantas Flight 7 (QF7/QFA7)[a] and Qantas Flight 8 (QF8/QFA8)[a] are flights operated by Australian airline Qantas between Sydney Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which, from 2013 to 2016, were the longest regularly scheduled non-stop commercial flights in the world. As of July 2024, they are the 13th longest regularly scheduled non-stop commercial flights in the world as measured by great-circle distance[b]—13,804 kilometres (8,577 mi; 7,454 nmi), which is over one third of the distance around Earth.[c]

A Qantas Airbus A380-800, the aircraft type that operated these flights from 2014-2020.

Background

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Qantas and American Airlines (AA) were two of the co-founding members of the Oneworld airline alliance, which was launched in 1999. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) has long been American's headquarters and largest hub and is centrally located in the United States. Dallas is less than four hours flying time from all cities in the continental United States and AA serves more of these airports from DFW than from Los Angeles, Qantas's main gateway to the United States. Los Angeles is also an AA hub, but is significantly smaller in terms of departures and destinations and located 4–5 hours flying time from most east coast cities. In 2012, American operated nearly 500 departing flights daily from DFW, but fewer than 100 from Los Angeles.[2] Dallas would be a logical destination for Qantas to serve, but it only had six aircraft with the 13,804-kilometre (8,577 mi) range needed to reach Dallas and they were needed for the Melbourne-Los Angeles and Sydney-Buenos Aires routes. The Boeing 747-400ER has a range of 14,205 kilometres (8,827 mi),[3] although winds aloft and fuel needed for holding can trim that figure.

Qantas had studied the feasibility of the Dallas route for years.[4] At the time of the Great Recession, Qantas' Sydney-San Francisco service became unprofitable, while an open skies agreement between Australia & the US flooded the market with more capacity.[4][5] In the meantime, the Boeing 747-400ER aircraft were replaced with A380s on the Melbourne-LA route. According to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce: "a lot of things clicked on this and it made absolute sense for us to devote aircraft resources to this destination."[4] By flying to Dallas, Qantas can offer passengers a 70-minute connection to domestic flights, which means onwards connections to cities like New York City, Chicago, Boston, and Miami can be up to two hours faster than transiting through Los Angeles.[4] At launch, Qantas had codeshare agreements on 54 AA flights from DFW to cities in the US, Canada, & Mexico.[6] When announcing the launch of A380 service, Qantas notes that DFW offers more than 30 codeshare destinations beyond the network available from Los Angeles.[7] According to Qantas in 2014, the most popular destinations for connections with QF7 are Orlando, Boston, Houston, Dallas and New York's LaGuardia Airport.[8]

History

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747 service to London and Singapore

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In March 1974, Qantas launched Flights 7 outbound and 8 returning, between Sydney and London Heathrow Airport, via Melbourne, Perth and Bombay. Initially, Qantas operated the flight pair three times each week using Boeing 747-200Bs, with a journey time of approximately 20 hours. The two flights were promoted as a faster alternative to the daily flight pair of Flight 1 outbound and Flight 2 inbound, also then operated by 747-200B aircraft, but with two or three stops between London and Australia. At the time, Qantas claimed that Flight 8 was the fastest service from London to Sydney of any airline.[9]

During the 1980s, Qantas developed hubs on the Kangaroo Route in Singapore and later Bangkok.[10] By the mid-1980s, Melbourne/Sydney to London flights had reverted to a daily Flight 1/Flight 2 service only, and Qantas was operating other Australia to Europe services, hubbed through Singapore or Bangkok, to Amsterdam, Athens, Belgrade, Frankfurt, Manchester and Rome. Under that hubbing arrangement, Flight 7/Flight 8 was cut back to four days per week Perth to Singapore service, still operated by 747-200Bs.[11]

Qantas eventually abandoned its hub in Singapore, after entering into an alliance with Emirates. Under the new alliance, Qantas operated flights between Australia and London via Dubai, which became a hub for Qantas/Emirates codeshare services to and from other destinations in Europe.[12]

747 service to Dallas (2011–2014)

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The Boeing 747-400ER previously operated by Qantas parked at Terminal D of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Qantas began operating the Sydney-Dallas route—designated Flight 7 outbound and Flight 8 returning—on 16 May 2011.[6][13] The route was initially flown 4 times weekly,[6] but was upgraded to daily service on 1 July 2012.[14] Flight 7, from Sydney to Dallas, flew non-stop in 15 hr 25 min.[6] Due to strong headwinds, Flight 8 could not be flown non-stop and flew from Dallas to Brisbane Airport before returning to Sydney.[15] Flights 7 & 8 were operated with a Boeing 747-400ER aircraft from 2011 until 28 September 2014.

When launched as a service to Dallas, Flight 7 was the longest regularly scheduled non-stop flight by distance operated by a Boeing 747[6][16] and the third-longest regularly scheduled non-stop commercial flight by distance[b]—behind Singapore Airlines Flights 21/22 (Newark-Singapore; 15,345 km) and Singapore Airlines Flights 37/38 (Los Angeles-Singapore; 14,114 km). However, unlike the Qantas Boeing 747-400ER, the Singapore Airlines flights were flown with Airbus A340-500 aircraft configured with an all-business class cabin that carried only 100 passengers.[17]

Qantas Flight 7 became the second-longest regularly-scheduled non-stop commercial flight by distance when Singapore Airlines stopped flying non-stop between Singapore & Los Angeles on 20 October 2013. The final Singapore Airlines flight from Newark to Singapore departed 23 November 2013, at which point Qantas Flight 7 became the longest regularly scheduled non-stop flight by distance.[b][18][19] It held this distinction until 1 March 2016, when Emirates began a 14,203 km non-stop service, EK 448 and EK 449, between Auckland, New Zealand and Dubai, UAE.[20]

Incidents

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The route suffered some setbacks during the first two weeks of operation, which called into question its feasibility.[21][22][23] On 21 May 2011, less than a week after commencing operations on the route, Qantas offloaded three containers of luggage in Dallas in order to reach Brisbane without the need to make an unplanned stop for fuel. Affected passengers waited 24 hours for their luggage to arrive via Los Angeles. Qantas claimed they were forced to make the decision "due to load restrictions as a result of unseasonably strong winds."[22] On 23 May, Flight 7 was forced to divert to Houston because it lacked enough fuel to circle Dallas until thunderstorms—typical during summertime—cleared, resulting in a two-hour delay.[23] Then on 30 May, Flight 8 made an unplanned stop in Nouméa, New Caledonia, when its pilots decided it was safer to stop and refuel there then continue on to Brisbane.[23][24]

A380 service to Dallas (2014–2020)

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Special livery sported on the inaugural A380 service (VH-OQL)

In May 2014, Qantas announced that Flight 7 and Flight 8 would be operated by the Airbus A380 beginning 29 September 2014, at which point Flight 8's intermediate stop in Brisbane would be terminated. Although frequency was reduced from seven to six flights per week, the larger capacity of the A380 results in an increase in weekly capacity on the route of more than ten percent. The A380s are configured into four classes, and brings the addition of first class to the route.[7]

The first A380 aircraft to operate Flight 7/8 sported a special livery: the kangaroo painted on the aircraft's empennage (tail) wore a white cowboy hat and star-speckled blue kerchief around its neck. The airplane also sported a commemorative seal with the tagline “G’Day Texas.” The hat and kerchief pay homage to the Dallas region's strong association with cowboy culture and the red background, white kangaroo/hat, and star-speckled blue are suggestive of the US flag.[8] With the change in aircraft, Qantas became the first airline to operate an A380 at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, although Emirates began flying the A380 to DFW just 2 days later.[25]

The following year on 13 April, Qantas flight 7 diverted to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport because there were no available airports nearby and the weather in Dallas wasn't suitable for the plane. However, after a few hours in Phoenix, the weather at Dallas improved and the flight departed Phoenix to continue onto Dallas.[26]

COVID-19 pandemic suspension (2020–2022)

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Due in part to the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Qantas suspended most of their international flights in early 2020. QF7/QF8 was suspended in April 2020 until its resumption in February 2022.[27] Qantas announced in their 3 year post-COVID-19 recovery plan, that the A380 fleet was to remain grounded until 2023 at the earliest and "The Boeing 787-9 will become Qantas' international workhorse."[28]

B787-9 service to Dallas (2022–present)

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QF7/QF8 resumed on 16 February 2022 operated by 787-9s for all upcoming scheduled flights.[29][30][31]

Flight

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Qantas Flight 7 operates from Sydney Airport (IATA: SYD) near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (IATA: DFW) near the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth in Texas, USA. Qantas Flight 8 is the return flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Sydney. Through a codeshare agreement with American Airlines, these flights are marketed as American Airlines Flight 7261 (AA7261)[32] and American Airlines Flight 7262 (AA7262),[33] respectively. It is one of only two non-stop routes between Australia and a US city beyond the west coast (Los Angeles or San Francisco), the other being United flights 100 and 101, which operate between Houston and Sydney.[14][34] The flights originally operated six times weekly (every day except Tuesday).[7] but moved to daily flights from April 2016[35] The A380 aircraft initially deployed on this route are configured in a four-class seating with a 14-seat first class cabin, a 64-seat business class cabin, a 35-seat premium economy cabin, and a 371-seat economy class cabin.[36]

Because of the difference in local times, Flight 7 departs Sydney, Flight 7 arrives in Dallas/Fort Worth, and Flight 8 departs Dallas/Fort Worth on the same day (local time). Since Flight 8 is both an overnight flight and crosses the International Date Line, it arrives in Sydney two days after departing Dallas/Fort Worth. For example, Flights 7/8 departing Sydney on 16 February 2022 was scheduled to fly (local times in bold):

Departs/arrives Sydney (AEDT; UTC+11) Dallas (CST; UTC−6) UTC Duration
QF 7 departs Sydney 15:40
16 February 		22:40
15 February 		4:40
16 February 		15:20 hours
QF 7 arrives in Dallas 7:00
17 February 		14:00
16 February 		20:00
16 February
QF 8 departs Dallas 13:20
17 February 		20:20
16 February 		2:20
17 February 		16:45 hours[30]
QF 8 arrives in Sydney 6:05
18 February 		13:05
17 February 		19:05
17 February

Qantas Flight 8 from Dallas to Sydney—with a scheduled duration of 16 hours, 45 minutes—is one of the longest regularly scheduled non-stop commercial flights by scheduled duration.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Common abbreviated designation of the flight using the IATA and ICAO airline designators for Qantas: QF & QFA, respectively
  2. ^ a b c As measured by the distance between the origin and destination airports. Especially on ultra-long haul flights, the exact ground distance travelled by a flight can vary substantially based on daily and seasonal weather patterns, air traffic, and other issues. Therefore, the great-circle distance between origin and destination is the only reliable way to measure the "longest flight by distance".
  3. ^ The circumference of Earth is 40,075 km,[1] so 13,804 km is 34.4% of that.

References

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  1. ^ "What is the circumference of the earth?". About.com. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  2. ^ "(AA) American Airlines Scorecard". Flightstats. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012.
  3. ^ "Technical Characteristics -- Boeing 747-400ER". Boeing. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d "Qantas to fly world's longest 747 route". Traveller.com.au. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  5. ^ "United Airlines' 787 Australia announcement marks the 5th anniversary of US open skies agreement". Centre for Aviation. 3 March 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d e Farris, Brandon (16 May 2011). "Qantas Begins Flights Between Sydney and Dallas, Longest 747 Route Ever". NYC Aviation. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  7. ^ a b c "Qantas Customers to Experience World-Class A380 Services to Dallas/Fort Worth". Qantas News Room. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  8. ^ a b Flynn, David (29 September 2014). "Qantas begins Airbus A380 flights to Dallas". Australian Business Traveller. Archived from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  9. ^ "100 Years Of Qantas In The UK: The Boeing 747 Era". London Air Travel. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  10. ^ Rimmer, Peter J. (2005). "Australia Through the Prism of Qantas: Distance Makes a Comeback" (PDF). Otemon Journal of Australian Studies. 31: 135–157, at 149. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  11. ^ "1985/86: QANTAS Network". Routes online. Informa. 11 February 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  12. ^ "Why has Qantas axed Dubai & returned to the Singapore Kangaroo Route?". UNSW – Business School. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  13. ^ "QANTAS to launch Dallas service and cancels San Francisco from May 2011". Airline Route. 14 January 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  14. ^ a b Flynn, David (8 May 2012). "Qantas does Dallas (daily) with upgraded Boeing 747s". Australian Business Traveller. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  15. ^ McCartney, Scott (19 January 2012). "The World's Longest Flight, in Coach". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  16. ^ O'Sullivan, Kay (19 May 2011). "Qantas jumbo haul: flying the world's longest 747 route". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  17. ^ "Singapore Airlines to Launch First All-Business Class Flights From USA to Asia" (Press release). Singapore Airlines.
  18. ^ Flynn, David. "Qantas claims "world's longest flight" for Sydney-Dallas route". Australian Business Traveler. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  19. ^ Bachman, Justin (21 October 2013). "The End of the World's Longest Nonstop Flights". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  20. ^ Mutzabaugh, Ben (1 March 2016). "Emirates overtakes Qantas for world's longest flight". USA Today. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  21. ^ Wayne, Dan (25 May 2011). "Dumping luggage at Dallas: what choice did Qantas have but to leave baggage behind?". Australian Business Traveller. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  22. ^ a b Warne, Dan (24 May 2011). "Qantas leaves baggage behind in Dallas... deliberately". Australian Business Traveller. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  23. ^ a b c "Qantas Confident About Dallas Flights". World Civil Aviation Resource Network. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  24. ^ Heasley, Andrew (31 May 2011). "Too far: Qantas 747 forced to land for more fuel on Dallas route". Traveller.com.au. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  25. ^ Maxon, Terry (7 May 2014). "Qantas will begin flying the Airbus A380 to Dallas/Fort Worth in late September". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  26. ^ Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport [@PHXSkyHarbor] (13 April 2019). "Happy to host the Qantas A380 @PHXSkyHarbor as it waits out the weather" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  27. ^ "Qantas returns to Dallas, ramps up international flights from Brisbane". Australian Aviation. 14 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  28. ^ "Qantas to mothball all Airbus A380s until at least 2023". Executive Traveller. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  29. ^ "Bound for Texas: Qantas heads back to Dallas Fort Worth". Executive Traveller. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  30. ^ a b "QF7 Flight Schedule". Flightmapper.net.
  31. ^ Qantas Airways USA [@QantasUSA] (17 February 2022). "Some special guests were ready and waiting to welcome passengers at @DFWAirport - Our first flight to Dallas in almost two years!" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 February 2022 – via Twitter.
  32. ^ "American Airlines flight AA 7261: Sydney - Dallas/Ft. Worth". Flightmapper.net. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  33. ^ "American Airlines flight AA 7262: Dallas/Ft. Worth - Sydney". Flightmapper.net. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  34. ^ "United Airlines Strengthens Commitment to Houston with Nonstop Service Between Houston and Sydney". United Airlines. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  35. ^ "Media Releases - Growth To Asia and Network Changes". Qantas News Room. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  36. ^ "Qantas Airbus A380 Seat Map". SeatGuru. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
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