Qantas is assessing the operation its much-hyped Australia-Dallas route after a jumbo jet ran low on fuel trying to make the non-stop leg from Texas to Brisbane and had to land on a Pacific island to fill up.
Pilots yesterday landed the Boeing 747-400ER in Noumea for an unscheduled stop after battling stronger than expected headwinds after leaving the US, a Qantas spokesman said.
“They [the pilots] made a decision that it was better, as a precaution, to divert to Noumea and take more fuel on board, rather than continuing,” the spokesman told Fairfax media.â€
The unscheduled stop meant the plane was two hours late landing in Brisbane.
Qantas began flying the 13,816km non-stop route between Australia and Dallas two weeks ago. It is one of the longest non-stop routes in the world and the longest flown by 747s.
The outward leg to the US leaves Sydney and makes the journey, with the assistance of tail winds, direct in 15 hours and 25 minutes.
But coming back to Australia against the winds the aircraft take 16 hours and are scheduled to arrive in Brisbane first for refueling before heading for Sydney.
