Qantas and Airbus successfully completed an extended-duration test flight on Tuesday that is believed to represent the longest-ever commercial aviation journey. The specialized Airbus A350-1000ULR departed from Melbourne and traveled for 24 hours and 24 minutes before landing at Airbus facilities in Toulouse, France, after covering 23,075 kilometers across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans without intermediate stops.
The achievement marks a significant milestone in ultra-long-range commercial aviation, surpassing the previous record of 22 hours and 42 minutes established by a Boeing 777–200LR in 2005. The aircraft used in this flight represents Qantas’s Project Sunrise initiative, which aims to establish regular nonstop service between Australia and Europe using newly developed aircraft. The specialized A350-1000ULR includes modifications such as an extra fuel tank and carries an additional 20,000 liters of fuel capacity to enable the extended flight duration.
Qantas has ordered 12 modified versions of the A350-1000ULR aircraft, with the first scheduled for delivery in April 2027. The airline intends to begin commercial operations with daily nonstop flights between Sydney and London from October 2027. These routes are expected to reduce journey times significantly, condensing what previously required multiple segments or connections into single flights lasting approximately 19 to 21 hours, depending on routing and wind conditions.
The test flight garnered substantial public attention, with flight-tracking service Flightradar24 reporting that over 3.6 million people monitored the journey in real-time, marking it the second-most-tracked flight on record. Airbus has been conducting a two-month testing program on the aircraft beginning in June, with another successful test flight from Toulouse to Melbourne completed the previous week, demonstrating the aircraft’s reliability on extended routes.
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