Qantas claims distance record
AAP
Qantas claims distance record
January 09, 2003
QANTAS believes it has broken a world record, flying almost 17,000 kilometres from France to Melbourne without stopping.
The 20-hour non-commercial flight was to bring Qantas' new Airbus A330-200 plane home, after it was built in Toulouse, in southern France.
The aircraft, Qantas' second new Airbus, goes into service today on key Cityflyer routes between Sydney and Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.
"We believe we have achieved a 'distance without landing' milestone of 16,910 kilometres, improving on the current record of 11,249 kilometres which was accomplished on a flight from Toulouse to Santiago, Chile on 21 March 1998," Qantas executive general manager aircraft operations David Forsyth said.
Mr Forsyth said the Airbus' efficiencies had enabled the normal delivery flight to operate non-stop between France and Australia.
Qantas is awaiting accreditation from the Australian Sport Aviation Confederation in Canberra that the flight was a world record.
The potentially record-breaking flight was made at 856 km/hr and touched down in Melbourne at 4.46pm (AEDT) on Christmas day.
Qantas has bought 13 A330-200s and A330-300s from Airbus in a major fleet upgrade.
AAP