Qantas just confirmed what frequent flyers and aviation nerds have been waiting years to hear. The Australian carrier will launch non-stop commercial service from Sydney to London in October 2027, creating the longest passenger flight on the planet.
The route will stretch over 16,000 km, with passengers strapped in for somewhere between 19 and 22 hours depending on conditions.
What Project Sunrise actually looks like
The initiative, branded “Project Sunrise,” has been in development for years. Qantas selected London as the inaugural destination, with New York planned as a follow-up route connecting Australia’s east coast directly to cities that previously required at least one stopover.
The aircraft doing the heavy lifting will be the Airbus A350-1000ULR, a ultra-long-range variant built specifically for routes that most planes simply can’t handle. The first unit has already been named Vega and is scheduled for delivery in April 2027.
