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It's the ultimate in long haul flights.

Australian airline Qantas have tested out a non-stop journey from New York to Sydney -- lasting nearly 20 hours and spanning more than 16,000 kilometres, or just over 10,000 miles..

The idea was to research how the world's longest commercial airplane journey would impact pilots, crew and passengers.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce

(SOUNDBITE) (English) QANTAS CEO, ALAN JOYCE, SAYING:

"This is a really historic moment for Qantas, a really historic moment for Australian aviation and a really historic moment for world aviation. We are the first commercial airline to fly non-stop from New York to Sydney"

With demand for air travel rapidly growing and aircraft performance improving, carriers are increasingly looking into ultra-long-haul travel.

Qantas said the aim of the research flight was to increase health and wellness, minimize jet lag and identify optimum crew rest and work periods.

The International Air Transport Association expects the worldwide number of annual passengers to grow from 4.6 billion this year to 8.2 billion by 2037.