Qantas has announced it will launch nonstop flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to New York and London by 2022.

The Australian airline is seeking the manufacture of new planes capable of making the intercontinental journey from the east coast capitals without a stopover, with a window to launching the new flights by 2022 at the latest.

“It’s huge, it’s fantastic news. East coast services – Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne – direct to London and New York is a huge step forward in connecting us to the world,” Qantas Chief of Technical Support Captain Alex Passerini told TODAY.

“It’ll save four hours (on the trip) to London.”

Qantas’ existing long-range aircraft, such as the Airbus A350 or the under-development Boeing 777X, are not capable of covering the distance from either departure points.

According to Qantas estimates, the new flights would take 20 hours and 20 minutes from Sydney to London and 18 hours and seven minutes from Sydney to New York.

A total stopover time of three hours and 45 minutes and two hours and 43 minutes would be saved by each flight, respectively.

The record for the world’s longest flight route is currently taken by Qatar Airways; the Doha to Auckland nonstop flight covers a distance 14,529 kilometres.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has previously described a non-stop flight from Australia to New York as the airline’s “holy grail”.