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More than 100 people paid as much as $2,700 to take a 7.5-hour flight to nowhere earlier this month in Australia.

The Qantas flight aboard a Dreamliner 787 took off from Sydney and swooped over some of the country's most famous sites, including the Sydney Harbor, Uluru and the Gold Coast, and then landed right back where it started.

The airline called it a "special scenic joy flight ... for those who just want to spread their wings – no passport or quarantine required."

The 134 seats sold out in 10 minutes, according to Reuters.

“It’s probably the fastest selling flight in Qantas history,” a Qantas spokeswoman told Reuters. “People clearly miss travel and the experience of flying. If the demand is there, we’ll definitely look at doing more of these scenic flights while we all wait for borders to open.”

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A similar flight in Taiwan, set to fly over South Korea's Jeju Island, reportedly sold out even faster. Tickets for that trip, which cost up to $236, were snapped up in as little as four minutes.

The flights are part of a new trend in the Pacific and Asia, where airlines are launching innovative programs to help make up for losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many of the countries in the region have rigid travel restrictions and border controls, cramping the style of travelers used to booking trips cross country or around the world at will.

“So many of our frequent flyers are used to being on a plane every other week and have been telling us they miss the experience of flying as much as the destinations themselves,” Alan Joyce, the chief executive of Qantas Airlines, said in a statement, according to the New York Times.

Air travel worldwide has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic. The International Air Transport Association estimates that airlines in the Asia-Pacific region could lose up to $27.8 billion this year, Agence France-Presse reported.

In a report released Wednesday, the Air Transport Action Group said the airline industry stands to lose 46 million jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. Recovery isn't expected until at least 2024.

Flyer Nadzri Harif took an 85-minute flight to nowhere in August from Brunei International Airport.

“I didn’t realize how much I’d missed traveling — missed flying — until the moment the captain’s voice came on the speaker with the welcome and safety announcement,” Harif told the New York Times.

Not everyone's on board for the flights to nowhere, though.

Singapore Airlines announced Tuesday it was nixing the idea after pressure from the environmental group SG Climate Rally, which said such trips encourage "carbon-intensive travel for no good reason" and airlines should instead use this time to look at ways to reduce their impact on climate change.

Instead, the airline is offering special events on the ground, like tours and dinners in parked aircraft.

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The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.