New Qantas plane sets record with mammoth 24-hour test flight
Updated . First published at
Qantas’ new ultra-long-haul plane has marked yet another historic milestone, breaking the record for the longest flight by a commercial aircraft.
The specially built Airbus 350-1000ULR that will deliver Qantas’ new Project Sunrise flights from late 2027, flew from Melbourne to Toulouse clocking a flight time of 24 hours and 24 minutes.
Qantas’ new ultra-long-haul plane has broken record for the longest flight. Supplied
It took off from Melbourne Airport at 5:27pm on Monday and touched down in Toulouse at 9:51am local time, with some 125,000 users tracking the jet on Flightradar24.
The mammoth 23,075-kilometre, non-stop journey has now gone into the aviation history books after breaking the previous record held by Boeing.
That stood at 22 hours and 42 minutes, and was set by a Boeing 777-200LR that flew from Hong Kong International (HKG) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) in November 2005.
The aircraft arrived in Australia on Friday after an initial long-haul test flight from the Airbus factory in France to Melbourne.
It followed a fairly conventional flight path on its way down under, flying southeast from France over the Mediterranean and the Middle East before crossing over India and Malaysia and on to cross Australia.
But instead of following a similar route back to France, the test flight flew north-east after take off, crossing the Pacific and the US, then flying over the Atlantic south of Greenland, over the UK and back to southern France from the north,
The test flight lasted 24 hours and 24 minutes. Supplied
The long-range tests were specifically designed to ensure the Rolls-Royce-powered engines can perform a 23-hour ‘block time’ flight. This is how long it takes between releasing the parking brake at departure to arriving it at the arrival gate.
The test also served to validate cabin comfort for passengers through air conditioning and fuel management systems, particularly the additional rear centre tank, Airbus said.
On the return flight to France there were five pilots on board – three Airbus pilots plus two Qantas pilots, who are already qualified on the A350.
The new plane landed in Melbourne last week. 9News
Airbus Test Pilot, Xavier Pepin captained the longest flight and shared some insights.
“To manage fatigue during the 20 to 23-hour flights we implemented four-hour shifts for each pilot, but we rotated the crew every two hours,” he told Airbus.
“This staggered approach ensures that when a new pilot joins the cockpit, they overlap for two hours with the outgoing pilot.”
For this flight, he said at least one Airbus test pilot was always seated in a pilot seat when a Qantas pilot was in the other, “to ensure mission safety, as Airbus holds responsibility for the operation”.
The goal was to give the Qantas pilots their first experience with the ultra-long-haul aircraft.
“We have organised a schedule to allow a Qantas pilot to take the controls at specific times,” Xavier said.
“We really enjoyed and appreciated exchanging knowledge and addressing their questions during our ultra-long-range voyage together.”
