Qantas unveils historic first Project Sunrise route to take off in 2027

Qantas has announced where its historic first ultra-long-haul Project Sunrise flight will take off to next year.

The inaugural 20-plus-hour commercial service will fly from Sydney to London, officially becoming the longest non-stop passenger flight in the world.

Speaking at a media event in Toulouse, France, Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said the first direct flight to London would take off with passengers from October 2027.

“Qantas was built on the belief that Australia’s distance from the rest of the world should never stand in the way,” Hudson said.

The iconic Sydney–London Kangaroo Route was once a four-day trek. Recreating it now as one single flight is a huge historical milestone for Qantas, and aviation in Australia and the UK.

“The pioneering spirit of generations of our people has forged that path ever since, and today is the most significant step in that mission in our 105-year history.”

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Qantas has been flying internationally for 90 years

The A350-1000ULR aircraft will be able to fly for up to 22 hours non-stop, which is made possible by an additional 20,000 litre rear centre fuel tank and enhanced systems.

The new flight will shave around four hours off the current one-stop journeys between Sydney and the UK. Bookings will open in February 2027.

A Sydney to New York service is set to follow within months.

Fares for these ultra-long-haul services are projected to be roughly 20 per cent higher than traditional one-stop flights.

“On our Perth to London service we know that those customers are prepared to pay a premium for that,” Hudson told Today.

The aircraft completed its maiden test flight earlier this month, operated by two Airbus Flight Test Pilots, three Flight Test Engineers and one Ground Test Engineer.

The test flight took off on June 3 from Toulouse and flew for three hours 43 minutes over France and the French Atlantic Coast.

Before these mammoth flights begin, Qantas plans to have the A350 complete initial flights between Australia and New Zealand.

Vanessa Hudson told Executive Traveller the trans-Tasman flights will help train pilots and cabin crew on the new jets.

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“So to do that, we will have that first aircraft probably flying on the Tasman to New Zealand, where it gives us a little bit of time to stretch its legs, but not too far,” she said.

The new planes will seat just 238 passengers, giving passengers more space compared to the 300-plus seat layout used by other A350-1000 operators.

To minimise jet lag, it also features circadian-rhythm LED lighting, a specialised nutritionally-designed menu, and an onboard Wellbeing Zone for stretching and hydration.

The first of 12 new aircraft was scheduled for delivery in late 2026. However, it has since been delayed due to supply chain issues and is not expected to arrive in April 2027.

Qantas said, “the next four will follow in quick succession”. Three aircraft are needed to run a daily non-stop service on the routes.

The new Qantas flights will be the longest non-stop journeys in the world once they start operating.

Currently, Singapore Airlines still holds the title of the world’s longest flight, thanks to its Singapore to New York route, according to the Official Aviation Guide’s (OAG) airline schedules data.

The flight, which was first launched in October 2018, covers 15,332 kilometres with a flight time of 18 hours and 40 minutes.

Qantas has been flying between Sydney and London since 1947, when the original Kangaroo Route took four days with seven stops in Darwin, Singapore, Calcutta, Karachi, Cairo, Castel Benito and Rome, on its way to the UK.

The new non-stop flights will operate alongside Qantas’ existing Perth-London and Sydney-Singapore-London services.