Qantas Completes Record-Breaking 24-Hour Commercial Flight

Qantas completed what is believed to be the longest-ever commercial flight when its Airbus jet landed in Toulouse on Tuesday after a flight from Melbourne lasting 24 hours and 24 minutes. The flight, which triggered a surge in online tracking, is part of the airline’s Project Sunrise in which it plans to use a new A350 jet to fly nonstop from Australia to London. The specially adapted A350-1000ULR airliner ⁠is due to debut with the Australian carrier’s nonstop Sydney-London route from 2027.

Airbus has been conducting ‌a two-month test campaign ‌on the aircraft since June. Airbus said the aircraft, which boasts a ‌extra fuel tank, remained in the air for 24 hours and 24 minutes, covering 23,075km (14,338 miles) in a route over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans without stopping, before landing at the plane’s factory in Toulouse in south-west France.

Tuesday’s flight is thought to be the longest ever by a commercial plane, beating the previous record of 22 hours and 42 minutes set by a Boeing 777–200LR in 2005 between Hong Kong and London via the Pacific in 2005. In a test last week, the plane flew from Toulouse to Melbourne via the Indian Ocean in just over 19 hours.

Flight-tracking provider Flightradar24 said the trip was the second-most-tracked flight ever on its channels – behind a 2022 flight ‌carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin – with more than 3.6 million people following its progress northwards via Canada.

Qantas has ordered 12 modified A350-1000ULR aircraft, designed to connect Australia’s east coast with London and New York in ⁠about 20 hours. The services aim to turn what was ​once a five-day ​journey on the “Kangaroo Route” to ​London into a single flight lasting 19 to 21 ​hours, depending on ‌routing and winds.

The ​first aircraft, ​which carries 20,000 additional litres of fuel and can seat 238 passengers, is due for delivery in April 2027. Qantas expects to operate daily nonstop flights between Sydney and London from October 2027.