Qantas has this week announced a world-first air travel wellbeing partnership. The University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre will work with Qantas to help develop the airline’s new approach to long-haul travel ahead of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights this year. Researchers from a variety of fields including nutrition, physical activity and sleep and complex systems modelling are to be involved.
The project will provide strategies for counteracting jet lag and increasing flyers’ on-board exercise and movement, as well as a menu redesign, temperature and lighting redesigns and a transit-lounge wellness concept.
The Charles Perkins Centre academic director, Professor Steve Simpson, expressed his excitement at the project through a statement: “There is the potential for extraordinary health, science and engineering discoveries and innovations to come out of this research partnership, which will also provide the evidence-base needed for Qantas to implement strategies to further improve how people feel after a long haul flight.”
