HiFly Airbus A340-300 9H-SUN
HiFly Airbus A340-300 underwent the aircraft's longest flight in history. The flight from Montevideo, Uruguay to Melbourne took 16 hours 9 minutes. The aircraft registered 9H-SUN departed on Saturday the 11th of April at 1:45 local to Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. The plane landed at Melbourne from Carrasco International Airport after travelling 6700 nautical miles.
There was 112 passengers on board hoping to get home to Australia. They were all on the Greg Mortimer cruise where 127 of their 217 passengers tested positive for the coronavirus. All passengers have to participate in a 14 day quarantine in a hotel once arrived in Australia. The Greg Mortimer is a cruise that travels to multiple regions such as the Falklands, South Georgia and Antartica. It left Ushuaia on the 15th of March and had to stay off the coast of Montevideo for a fortnight after there was an outbreak of Covid-19 onboard. The evacuation deal was made with Aurora Expeditions and the Uruguayan and Australian governments.
The cruise operator, Aurora Expeditions chartered the flight to get the passengers and crew back to Australia. HiFly has 'Ready to Go' teams to handle every aspect of the flight. They ensure that the operating crew are briefed and safe. They handle the rules and regulations when it comes to organising the flight with the various governments and regulatory authorities. They are also responsible for equipping and sanitising the aircraft. It was the plane's first time flying direct from Uruguay to Australia. It flew over Antartica which is usually a route taken by Air New Zealand from Auckland to Buenos Aires and by Qantas from Sydney to Santiago.
It is an unusual sight to see the Airbus A340 in Australia. Due to the cold weather, the A340 is a perfect pick as is capable of venturing out of the cold, harsh environment of Antartica and it isn't subject to ETOPS. This is the Extended Range Twin Engine Operational Performance. This is when twin engined aircraft do not need to keep within certain flying times of diversion airports when operating long flights.
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