Qantas names first destination for Project Sunrise flights

Australians will be able to fly non-stop from Sydney to London aboard Qantas’ new Project Sunrise planes from 2027, the airline has announced.

The inaugural Project Sunrise flights will become the longest commercial flights in the world, 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.

Flights are scheduled to begin in October 2027. Tickets will go on sale in February 2027. Qantas said 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.

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.

The flights are expected to leave Sydney early in the afternoon to arrive in the early morning in London.

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.

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 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.

The A350-1000 ULR can fly more than 16,000 km, carrying 238 passengers across four cabins. The displayed plane named the Vega, in honour of one of the World War II-era Double Sunrise Catalina plane named the Vega Star, did not yet have engines attached.

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