Qantas achieved a milestone in aviation when one of its aircraft completed an extended test flight lasting 24 hours and 24 minutes, traveling from Melbourne to Toulouse. The journey covered approximately 23,075 kilometers across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans without stopping. This flight surpassed the previous record of 22 hours and 42 minutes, which was established by a Boeing 777–200LR in 2005 on a Hong Kong-to-London route.
The specially configured aircraft involved in the flight is an Airbus A350-1000ULR, a variant designed specifically for ultra-long-range operations. Airbus has been conducting a two-month testing campaign on the plane since June as part of its validation efforts. The aircraft features an additional fuel tank and can accommodate 238 passengers while carrying 20,000 extra liters of fuel capacity. A separate test flight the previous week demonstrated the aircraft’s capabilities on a Toulouse-to-Melbourne route via the Indian Ocean, completed in just over 19 hours.
The extended flight garnered substantial public attention, becoming the second-most-tracked flight on Flightradar24’s platform with more than 3.6 million followers monitoring its progress. The achievement represents a significant development in Qantas’s Project Sunrise initiative, which aims to establish nonstop service between Australia and major international hubs. Qantas has ordered 12 of the modified A350-1000ULR aircraft and expects the first to arrive in April 2027. The airline plans to launch daily nonstop flights between Sydney and London from October 2027, with services also planned to New York. The new routes are expected to reduce travel time from what was traditionally a five-day journey to approximately 19 to 21 hours, depending on routing and weather conditions.
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