1989: The first non-stop London to Sydney flight

Just over a week ago (November 15), Qantas conducted a non-stop flight from London to Sydney using a 787 Dreamliner jet. The flight which carried a few dozen passengers was for research purposes as Qantas aims towards providing direct flights from the east coast of Australia to London and New York by 2022.

This flight was thirty years after the very first non-stop London to Sydney flight which was also undertaken by Qantas using a Boeing 747-400 jet. The 18 012km flight took 20 hours, 9 minutes and 55 seconds, arriving in Sydney on August 17 1989.

With the recent test flight involving the 787, it took 19 hours and 19 minutes to traverse the route. A new record.

Below is coverage from The Daily Telegraph from August 18 1989.