Sold out seven-hour Qantas “flight to nowhere” proves how much people miss air travel

It seems that there is a huge demand of “flights to nowhere”. I first heard of such a thing when I read about Taipei Songshan Airport offering with fake “flights” for travel-starved tourists/locals. Now, it seems like it’s going to be come a more regular thing during the pandemic.

Australian airline Qantas offered a seven-hour Boeing 787 Dreamliner experience around the country. It was uncertain just how well the tickets would sell, but ten minutes after the offer went live, all the tickets had sold.

“It’s probably the fastest selling flight in Qantas history. People clearly miss travel and the experience of flying. If the demand is there, we’ll definitely look at doing more of these scenic flights while we all wait for borders to open,” said the Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce.

The flight will depart from Sydney Domestic Airport on the 10th October and will land back at the same place seven hours later. 134 tickets were on sale—ranging between economy, premium economy and business class. The ticket prices ranged from AUD 787 (RM2,357.77) to AUD 3,787 (RM11,345.47).

According to their flight info, the seven-hour “flight to nowhere” will include low level flybys of Australian destinations across Queensland, the Northern Territory and New South Wales. This includes the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Byron Bay and Sydney Harbour. 

The airline also promised “special onboard entertainment” and a “surprise celebrity host”. Seeing as it’s Australia, the best case scenario would be Chris Hemsworth.

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