Australian flag carrier Qantas has revealed plans to connect Sydney to New York via Auckland. The airline will use the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to operate the service, which is scheduled to start in mid-June 2023. The carrier is eventually hoping to connect Sydney and New York with non-stop flights as part of its Project Sunrise program.

New York isn't a new destination for Qantas. In years gone by, the airline has flown to the destination with a stop in Los Angeles, though it didn't have the rights to sell tickets solely for the domestic leg. Now, Los Angeles is being replaced by Auckland.

16 hours in a seat?

When Qantas was serving New York via Los Angeles, passengers traveling to the Big Apple had a 13.5-hour flight, followed by a shorter five-and-a-half-hour domestic hop. By moving the point where the aircraft will stop to refuel, Qantas has altered the flight time dynamic of the two services.

The flight time from Syndey to Auckland clocks in at around three hours. After a stop in Auckland to refuel the Boeing 787, passengers will strap in for a 16-hour flight across the Pacific and North America before arriving in New York. The flights will have the numbers QF3 and QF4. The flight time won't quite stretch to the 17-hour, 15-minute flight time of Qantas' non-stop Perth-London service, the world's third longest route.

Qantas didn't explicitly say that tickets would be available for travel between Auckland and New York, but it does say that the service will "give New Zealanders more choice," suggesting that Qantas hopes to offer this. The route is still subject to regulatory approval.

Commenting on the launch, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce remarked,

"Customer feedback on our direct London and Rome services show how well suited our Dreamliner cabins are to longer international flights like these, which is helped by the fact we designed them with more room and fewer seats than most of our competitors."

Syndey to New York non-stop?

Qantas eventually hopes to connect Sydney to New York and London with non-stop flights. Known as Project Sunrise, the airline will acquire a fleet of 12 Airbus A350-1000s to "make any city just one flight away from Australia."

Qantas has actually already flown non-stop from New York to Sydney with a couple of Boeing 787 demonstration flights. These aircraft were incredibly lightly loaded and fueled to the brim, with Qantas using aircraft being delivered from Boeing. The second of the two flights, on December 16th, 2019, clocked in at 19 and a half hours of flight time.

Are you excited to see Qantas return to New York? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!

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  Qantas

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  QF/QFA

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Brisbane Airport, Melbourne Airport, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

  Year Founded:

  1920

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Vanessa Hudson

  Country:

  Australia

• 

  New York JFK Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  JFK/KJFK

  Country:

  United States

  CEO:

  Rick Cotton (Executive Director of Port Authority of NY and NJ)

  Passenger Count :

  16,630,642 (2020)

  Runways :

  4L/22R - 3,682m (12,079 ft) | 4R/22L - 2,560m (8,400 ft) | 13L/31R - 3,048m (10,000 ft) | 13R/31L - 4,423m (14,511 ft)

  Terminals:

  Terminal 1 | Terminal 2 | Terminal 4 | Terminal 5 | Terminal 7 | Terminal 8