Updated ,first published
Qantas has announced that by 2027, Australians will finally be able to board a plane in Sydney and step off in London without a single stopover.
The inaugural Project Sunrise flights will become the longest commercial flights in the world – up to 22 hours – aboard a specially modified Airbus A350-1000ULR (for ultra-long range).
“The tyranny of distance for Australians will finally be conquered,” chief executive Vanessa Hudson said.
The flights will save customers up to four hours compared to the fastest one-stop service that you can take today, she said.
“It will give our customers something that no other airline in the world can give them, the choice, the choice to fly Sydney to London without swapping anywhere along the way on an aircraft.”
Flights are scheduled to begin in October 2027. Tickets will go on sale in February 2027. Qantas said once the Sydney flights begin, Sydney to New York will soon become the second destination for the 22-hour direct flights.
“The A350 is going to give us the ability to connect East Coast Australia to London and New York, and that is going to be the starting point,” Hudson said, pointing to Qantas’ historic role in keeping Australia connected to Europe during World War II.
The flights are expected to leave Sydney early in the afternoon to arrive in the early morning in London. Project Sunrise flights from Melbourne would depend on future demand, Hudson said, making no commitment to them.
“If we see the demand, we’re going to be able [to] announce the routes progressively as the new aircraft come in over the next two-and-a-half years,” Hudson said. “So demand can change, we know how demand can change, and we’re going to be responsive to that.”
Nearly a decade after Project Sunrise was announced by Qantas, the first plane is undergoing test flights, while a second has been painted in its Qantas livery.
The announcement of the schedule comes nearly a month after Airbus revealed that the first A350-1000ULR would not be in delivered to Qantas until 2027, from an earlier expectation of 2026.
Hudson announced the schedule to a gathering of invited journalists and industry experts at the Airbus production facility in Toulouse, France.
With the date for the first flight now firmly set, the stakes are raised for Qantas, as production delays to date have slowed the delivery of Airbus planes, particularly with the time taking for cabin interiors to be produced and safety certified requiring more time.
The displayed Airbus was named the Vega in honour of one of the World War II-era Double Sunrise Catalina planes which inspired the term “Project Sunrise”. But in a sign of the constraints in aircraft manufacturing, the plane did not yet have engines attached.
Qantas denied the lack of engines was due to production issues, and Hudson said instead it had “been pulled out of manufacturing to be here and to be present and to enjoy the moment”.
The separate Project Sunrise plane undergoing test flights has engines.
The aircraft manufacturing industry has not fully recovered from the fraying of supply lines that occurred during the COVID pandemic, when commercial aviation slowed to a trickle.
Hudson said Project Sunrise: “is also going to enable us, as Qantas, the national carrier, in times of need, whether it be war, whether it be weather, whether it be some kind of crisis, to be able to do what we know is a fundamental part of our purpose, which is to fly to any point of the globe to repatriate Australians in need”.
The A350-1000 ULR can fly more than 16,000 km, carrying 238 passengers across four cabins.
Chief financial officer Rob Marcolina dismissed concerns that the re-opening of traditional Middle Eastern routes, expected to trigger a fierce long-haul price war on flights to Australia, would squeeze Qantas’s plans to launch non-stop services from Sydney to London and New York.
While major Gulf carriers like Qatar Airways, Etihad, and Qantas’s codeshare partner Emirates are expected to drive down fares, Marcolina argued that Qantas targets a distinctly different market segment than airlines competing solely on price.
He noted that over two-thirds of the airline’s international passengers are premium leisure travellers.
“They’re prepared to pay a premium not only to fly direct but to get the Qantas service and the Qantas product,” Marcolina said, adding, “That’s not necessarily the people who would be attracted to fly through the Mideast.”
Linus Benjamin Bauer, founder of Singapore-based BAA & Partners, said a “one-stop routing exposes a journey to two segments plus a hub that may itself sit near a risk zone”.
Since Project Sunrise product reduces the number of points where a trip can break down, especially as airspace becomes contested, “the premium traveller’s willingness to pay for fewer dependencies rises with it”.
Chris Zappone is a senior reporter covering aviation and business. He is former digital foreign editor.Connect via X, Facebook or email.
