Inside Qantas Project Sunrise: the Sydney–London non-stop launching October 2027. A 17,000 km, 20-hour flight on the new Airbus A350-1000ULR.
In October 2027 a Qantas Airbus A350-1000ULR will push back from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport and fly non-stop to London Heathrow: roughly 17,000 km (10,573 miles) covered in around 20 hours. It will be the longest scheduled commercial flight ever operated and the first time a single airframe has connected Australia to Europe directly with passengers, freight, and a normal cabin layout.
Qantas calls the program Project Sunrise, named after the airline's World War II Double Sunrise Catalina missions between Perth and Ceylon, flights so long that crews regularly watched the sun rise twice in a single sector. A passenger boarding at Sydney in the evening will see two sunrises before stepping off the jet bridge in London the next morning.
Three city pairs anchor the network. Sydney to London (17,016 km, around 20h 00m) launches in October 2027. Sydney to New York (15,986 km, around 19h 30m) follows before the end of 2027. Melbourne to London (16,898 km, around 19h 55m) is planned for 2028. All distances are great-circle figures calculated with the Haversine formula; block times are Qantas planning figures and will be confirmed closer to launch.
On 2 June 2026 Airbus rolled the first A350-1000ULR out of its Toulouse final assembly line, the first of twelve aircraft Qantas has on firm order. The Ultra Long Range variant is mechanically very close to the standard A350-1000 but adds roughly 20,000 liters of additional fuel in modified center tanks (no extra tanks added), a higher maximum take-off weight of 322 tonnes, and Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines tuned for extended cruise performance.
The result is a certified non-stop range of more than 18,000 km with a full passenger payload, enough margin to fly Sydney to London year-round including against the strongest northern hemisphere winter headwinds.
Qantas configured the Project Sunrise A350 for just 238 passengers, about 100 fewer than a standard A350-1000. The missing seats are deliberate: the space goes to a Wellbeing Zone at the back of Economy with stretching guides, hydration station, and lower lighting, plus six First Suites, 52 Business suites in a 1-2-1 layout, 40 Premium Economy seats, and 140 Economy seats at 33-inch pitch, more than the industry average for long-haul.
Cabin lighting cycles through dawn, day, dusk, and night sequences calibrated to gently shift passengers toward the destination time zone, a system developed with the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney over more than five years of research flights. Crew rest compartments above the main deck support two cabin crew shifts plus an additional flight crew, since the aircraft carries four pilots for the full mission.
The technical milestone is obvious; no airline has ever scheduled a 20-hour flight. The strategic shift is bigger. Project Sunrise removes the connecting stop that has shaped Australian aviation for almost a century, from the 1934 Kangaroo Route (twelve days, twenty-five stops) to the post-1989 era of one-stop service via Singapore or Dubai.
The economics matter too. Ultra-long routes work best with high-yield cabins: premium-heavy seating, business travelers, and passengers willing to pay for time saved. Qantas has been clear that Project Sunrise fares will sit at a premium, but a smaller premium than many analysts expected because the saved hours and removed connection genuinely justify the cost for many travelers. For airports, Singapore Changi and Dubai International will lose some Qantas connecting traffic, and Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and Qatar Airways are unlikely to leave the premium Sydney to Europe market without a response.
The Project Sunrise name is not marketing, it is a callback. Between 1943 and 1945 Qantas operated a clandestine 28-to-32-hour Catalina flying boat service from Perth to Colombo over Japanese-occupied waters. The route was so long that crews regularly watched two sunrises between departure and arrival. Passengers, almost exclusively military and diplomatic, were forbidden from speaking about the service.
Eight decades on, a Sydney to London passenger booked on the inaugural QF1 will repeat almost exactly the same experience: take off in the evening, watch a sunrise somewhere over the Indian Ocean, sleep, wake, watch a second sunrise over Europe, and land. The flying boat carried three passengers and took 32 hours; the A350-1000ULR carries 238 and takes 20. The two sunrises remain the same.
Sydney to London is scheduled to enter service in October 2027, with Sydney to New York following before the end of that year. Melbourne to London is planned for 2028.
Approximately 20 hours, covering a great-circle distance of around 17,000 km (10,573 miles). Westbound flights will be slightly longer than eastbound due to prevailing winds.
The Airbus A350-1000ULR, a long-range variant of the standard A350-1000 with additional fuel capacity in modified center tanks and a higher maximum take-off weight. Qantas has 12 on firm order.
Qantas configured the cabin for just 238 passengers, about 100 fewer than a standard A350-1000, to make room for crew rest, extra fuel, and a Wellbeing Zone for passengers.
No. Qantas will continue to operate one-stop services via Singapore as well as the non-stop Project Sunrise flights. Passengers will be able to choose between the faster non-stop or a slightly cheaper one-stop option.
The name references the WWII-era Double Sunrise Catalina flying boat service Qantas operated between Perth and Ceylon in 1943 to 1945. The flights were so long (28 to 32 hours) that crews watched the sun rise twice in a single mission.