Route apparently highly attractive: Qantas sightseeing flight sold out within minutes

Usually you get on a plane to get from A to B – but on a special flight from Qantas in Australia, the journey is the goal. The sightseeing flight over famous places in the country sells out in no time.

The tickets for the curious long-haul sightseeing flight to nowhere operated by the Australian airline Qantas are all gone – they were said to have been sold within just ten minutes. A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner is scheduled to take off from Sydney on October 10, and then fly relatively low over the country's most famous sights, landing in Sydney seven hours later without a stopover.

"This is probably the fastest sold-out flight in Qantas history," said a company spokesman. The society, which has got into financial need because of the corona pandemic, wants to win back guests with the idea and at least enable them to overcome the currently closed borders within the country from the air.

Among other things, passengers can marvel at the Great Barrier Reef, the mighty Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) and Sydney Harbor from above. A passport or corona quarantine are not necessary. In economy class, tickets were sold from 780 Australian dollars (480 euros), while a seat in business class was available from just under 3800 Australian dollars (2300 euros). Several media quoted the airline as saying that the machine would go down to around 1200 meters at the sights. The Dreamliner has particularly large windows, according to Qantas they are 65 percent larger than in comparable aircraft.

"We knew this flight would be popular, but we didn't expect it to be filled in ten minutes," said Qantas. People apparently missed traveling and flying. "If there is a demand, we will definitely consider offering more sightseeing flights until the domestic borders reopen." Because of the corona pandemic, not only have the borders in Australia been closed to visitors from abroad for months, travel between the individual states is also largely prohibited.