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. The flights are expected to leave Sydney early in the afternoon to arrive in the early morning in London. 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.
Hudson’s 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 interiors.
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.
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.”
The reporter travelled to France courtesy of Qantas.
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Chris Zappone is a senior reporter covering aviation and business. He is former digital foreign editor.Connect via X, Facebook or email.From our partners
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