Qantas ’inaugural non-stop flight 787 from Perth to Rome has set a new speed record with the first flight landing in just 15 hours and 34 minutes.
The flight covered 13,354 km and arrived in the Italian capital almost an hour earlier than planned.
The QF5 took off 30 minutes late at 10.50pm on Saturday night on runway 03, tracking northwest from Perth across the Indian Ocean to an initial cruising altitude of 34,000 feet .
In three years, the 787-year-old VH-ZNG, named Jillaroo, climbed to 38,000 feet (10,363 m) above Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, before crossing the southern tip of India.
During long-haul flights, pilots increase the altitude of the aircraft with the approval of air traffic control, as fuel is used and the load becomes lighter.
The higher the plane can fly, the more efficient the flight.
The Boeing 787 typically reaches a cruising altitude of 40,000 feet (12,190 m), well above most aircraft, which significantly helps congested traffic areas such as Asia in Europe.
Once past the Arabian Sea, the crew changed course to the northwest and crossed to Oman, just south of Muscat.
After a rapid overflight of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, the crew again changed course in a more westerly direction through Saudi Arabia.
Camera iconThe flight path of the QF5 on June 26. Credit: Flightradar24
At this point, the altitude was increased to 40,000 feet as more fuel was burned.
In 787 it continued just south of Jordan and the famous port city of Aqaba before crossing the Gulf of Suez, Cairo and the port city of Alexandria.
Once past Alexandria, the crew track took them through Crete and the southern tip of Greece before crossing the Ionian Sea and touching Italian land at the famous Italian port of Brindisi.
QF5 followed the east coast of Italy before turning west about 40 minutes before landing.
The Boeing 787 landed at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci – Fiumicino Airport on runway 16R at 8.25am local time (2.25pm Perth time).