This airline says it’s figured out how to reduce jet lag

Years before it begins offering the longest direct flights in the world, Australian airline Qantas says it is making in-flight improvements to help ultra-long-haul customers combat jet lag.

Last week, the carrier detailed changes to the in-flight experience it tested during three trial flights, nearly 20 hours long, from New York and London to Sydney in 2019. Qantas plans to officially launch those routes in 2025 under its “Project Sunrise” program, the push to operate the first direct flights between those cities with new Airbus A350 jets.

According to a news release from Qantas, still-unpublished research found that passengers who were on the flight with a specialized schedule reported less severe jet lag, experienced better quality of sleep and showed better cognitive performance for two days after the flight.

As part of the trials, which used volunteer travelers, the airline worked with researchers from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre to implement changes such as setting the cabin lighting to help people adapt to the time zone of their final destination; leading passengers through physical activities; shifting the timing of meals and serving food and drinks designed to either help people stay awake or drift off to sleep.

“To help passengers stay alert and awake we used chili, chocolate, caffeine, and spices,” researcher Svetlana Postnova, an expert in circadian modeling at the Charles Perkins Centre, said in an email. “Conversely, to help the transition to sleep, we used foods rich in tryptophan, such as dairy, bread and chicken, and non-caffeinated beverages” such as herbal tea.

She said that for flights that left New York at 9 p.m., passengers had longer light exposure and ate a meal at the beginning of the flight. Then they were put in about 10 hours of darkness, followed by a wake-up and breakfast before arriving in Sydney, where it was morning.

On a November 2019 trial flight, passengers had wearable devices to track their movement, sleep and exposure to light. They kept a daily log to note how they felt for a week before the flight, during the trip and for two weeks after.

The research is part of a years-long effort by Qantas to “overcome the tyranny of distance” between Australia and the rest of the globe, the company said. Qantas has been working with medical researchers at the Charles Perkins Centre since 2015. The new flights will reduce travel time from point to point by more than three hours compared to one-stop routes, the airline said.

“Now that we have the aircraft technology to do these flights, we want to make sure the customer experience evolves as well, and that’s why we’re doing this research and designing our cabins and service differently,” Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said in the release.

The Airbus A350 jets will carry 238 passengers, far fewer than other airlines, and will include a “Wellbeing Zone” with handles to facilitate stretching, an on-screen exercise program and some food and drinks.

The research from the test flights will be incorporated into lighting schedules and menu planning for the flights.

Postnova said in her email that researchers plan to write the results for publication, but may wait for more data from a larger study.

In the news release, Peter Cistulli, a professor of sleep medicine at the University of Sydney, hailed the “promising” early results and said the research was continuing.

“The early findings have given us optimism that we can make a real difference to the health and wellbeing of international travellers thanks to this partnership with Qantas,” Cistulli said in the release.