Both airlines are relying on data-hungry software to plot fuel-efficient flight paths and avoid unplanned and embarrassing stops to refuel. The route-planning programs can help pilots avoid heavy weather and catch a tailwind, or even tell them to fly slower to burn less kerosene — anything to squeeze extra miles from the tanks. And rather like an internet search engine that learns on the go, the mapping software is designed to get better the more it’s used.
Marathon commercial flights that test the limits of long-range jets are getting help from an unlikely source to avoid falling short of their destinations: machine-learning algorithms.
At times, Air New Zealand Ltd. has struggled to get all the way to Auckland from New York in a single hop using its Boeing Co. 787s. Qantas Airways Ltd., meanwhile, is adding extra fuel tanks to its Airbus SE A350s before attempting non-stop trips from Sydney to New York and London from late 2025. The 20-hour flights are set to be the world’s longest regular passenger services.
