5 insane facts about Qantas’ Perth to London flight

We don’t know about you, but we’re pretty bloody obsessed with Qantas’ Perth to London flight.

That’s why we were overjoyed to see the Points Guy‘s list of Fascinating Facts about the inaugural flight.

See also: Qantas makes history with first Perth to London flight

So overjoyed in fact, we’ve decided to share our favourites with you!

So sit back, relax and make sure your seat is in the upright position and your meal tray is stowed because we’ve got all the goss from the historical flight right here.

1. One of the pilots was a woman

The flight was lead by Captain Lisa Norman, who has been flying since 1985!

She’s been working hard behind the scenes as the Manager of Qantas’ Boeing 787-9 Introduction Flight Operations, so she’s been an integral part of making the historic flight happen.

2. The paint job added extra weight

As we reported earlier this week, the aircraft was painted with a beautiful design by Balarinji, based on the artwork Yam Dreaming by indigenous artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye.

What we didn’t know was the paint job added an extra 100 kilograms of additional weight.

Which is pretty significant, when you consider the painstaking effort that went into getting the weight of the aircraft exactly right, down to the number of peppermint tea bags on board.

3. There were empty seats

Qantas isn’t selling all economy seats for the first few weeks as the airline proves out the operational range of the aircraft on this particular route.

The inaugural flight left Perth with 212 passengers, meaning 24 seats were empty.

4. 20 of the passengers were being intensely studied 

As part of Qantas’ partnership with the University of Sydney, a few frequent flyers were asked to wear devices during the flight to record their sleep, movement and the amount of light that hit their body.

The research aims to make long-haul flights easier on the body.

There was also a University of Sydney nutrition PhD candidate on-board to answer any questions from passengers and conduct surveys about the experience.

5. The flight flew over 13 countries 

Despite having to avoid flying over countries like Ukraine, Syria and Yemen, which could, in theory, make the most efficient route between Australia and London, the flight flew over a really impressive number of countries.

13 to be exact.

This included Sri Lanka, India, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.

If you want to see the rest of the Points Guy’s list of fascinating facts, go here.