Jul 24, 2026 – 5.14pmQantas cannot say when passengers will be able to fly non-stop between Melbourne and London as part of its Project Sunrise ultra-long-haul plan, even as the first test flight of new aircraft from the Airbus factory in France touched down at Tullamarine on Friday.Instead, the airline will base the first six of its 12 custom-built Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft in Sydney, where its non-stop services from London and New York are scheduled to launch late next year.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles