The restoration Qantas Boeing 707-100 prototype left Southend airport in the UK this morning for its first flight on a 20,000km (10,800nm) voyage to the airline's heritage museum.

The aircraft (VH-XBA) left Southend for Dublin at 09:30 today and will route via Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands; Orlando, Florida; Honolulu, Hawaii and as-yet unspecified Pacific Isles. Two sectors of the original flight plan have been cancelled, pending rerouteing. Original plans to fly the 707 to the Boeing facility in Seattle have been cancelled due to extreme weather conditions; and political instability in Fiji mean an alternative route via Tonga or Samoa is being considered.

The aircraft will spend a few weeks in Sydney before flying finally to the Qantas Hertitage Museum in Longreach, Queensland.

Qantas 707 takes off
© Simon Murdoch 

Source: FlightGlobal.com

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