Qantas Airways launches ‘Full-Day’ flight to nowhere
The flight will fly over some of the country's prominent landmarks, including Uluru, the famous red sandstone monolith in the Northern Territory
Qantas Airways Ltd has launched a "full-day outing" sightseeing flight across Australia to deal with the pandemic's effect on the tourism industry.
The airline's sightseeing flight took off on Saturday morning from Sydney with 150 passengers with no specific duration.
The airline has not specified when the flight has been scheduled to return to the same airport, reports The Bloomberg.
The flight will fly over some of the country's prominent landmarks, including Uluru, the famous red sandstone monolith in the Northern Territory, the carrier said in a statement.
The aircraft will drop to 4,000 feet at some points during the trip for a better view, compared with 35,000 feet normally. The flight on a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner, usually reserved for long-haul international flights, will use offsets to account for its carbon emissions, Qantas said.
Airlines and tourism operators are grappling with a dramatic plunge in passenger traffic as a result of border closures, quarantine measures and curbs on movement. A third of the world's passenger jets remain grounded, while the number of flights in the US is about half the total a year ago and about 60% lower in Europe, according to aviation data provider Cirium.
Qantas, which plans to cut as many as 8,500 jobs and is considering the future of its Sydney headquarters under a cost review, last month offered loaded bar carts from retired 747s for about A$1,474 ($1,067) each, and previously sold off stocks of pajamas.
