Aviation

Qantas’ Boeing 787 flight from Buenos Aires will be one of its longest.

Qantas is about to embark on one of its longest-ever flights, a 14,683km (9,124 mile) non-stop journey from Buenos Aires to Darwin, with a detour via the South Pole.

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The flight, which is scheduled to leave the Argentine capital on Tuesday, October 5, is the latest in a series of special repatriation flights to help bring home Australians who have become stranded overseas, with their first stop in the Northern Territory’s Howard Springs quarantine camp.

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And it will be a long flight – even longer than Qantas’ flagship route from Perth to London (which could also end up being Darwin to London, at least in the short term, if Western Australia keeps its state borders locked tighter than a drum).

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The Perth-London marathon is the airline’s longest commercial service, with the Boeing 787-9 flying 14,498 kilometres – just 185 kilometres short of the Buenos Aires flight, which will also be handled by a red-tailed Dreamliner.

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Qantas’ Buenos Aires-Darwin repatriation flight is expected to take nearly 18 hours, which is the same amount of time as the proposed non-stop Project Sunrise flights between Sydney and London, which Qantas put on hold at the start of the pandemic but will reconsider by the end of 2021.

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Courtesy : Executive travelers

Aviation

COMAC Unveils Plans for the C929 to Rival Airbus and Boeing

After the success of China’s first C919 aircraft, the country is setting its sights on developing a larger plane. COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China) has officially confirmed plans to build a widebody aircraft, marking a significant step in its aircraft lineup.

Traditionally, Airbus and Boeing dominate the widebody aircraft market, with decades of expertise in developing planes and engines capable of carrying heavy payloads. China, which currently relies on imported engines, is now aiming to challenge these giants with its own widebody jet, the C929, designed to compete with the Airbus A350 and Boeing 777.

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The C929 will be China’s first independently developed long-range widebody aircraft. It adheres to international airworthiness standards and boasts independent intellectual property rights. The baseline version is designed to seat 280 passengers and offers a range of 12,000 kilometers, catering to global demand for both regional and international air travel.

Russia, which also needs reliable narrowbody and widebody aircraft, could become a key customer for the C929. Additionally, China plans to target the broader Asian market as it continues to expand its aviation capabilities.

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China’s aviation progress includes the ARJ21 (now called C909), a regional jet with 100 seats for shorter routes, and the C919, a narrowbody jet with 180 seats designed to rival the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320. Both models have found increasing demand in the domestic market.

At China’s largest air show in Zhuhai, COMAC announced that Air China will be the launch customer for the C929 widebody jet, though details about order size and delivery timelines were not disclosed.

Other major deals announced by COMAC include:

Hainan Airlines: Firm orders for 60 C919 and 40 C909 regional jets.
Colorful Guizhou Airlines: 30 C909 jets, with 20 firm orders and 10 provisional agreements.

The C929, renamed from the CR929 after Russia withdrew from the joint development project in 2023, is expected to carry 280–400 passengers with a range of 12,000 kilometers, competing directly with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

According to COMAC’s deputy general manager, Tong Yu, the first fuselage section of the C929 is expected by September 2027, with prototype test flights anticipated soon after.