Qantas jet lands in Australia after 19-hour non-stop test flight from France
The test flight carried four Airbus pilots and five engineers as the specially modified jet proved it can stay airborne for nearly 20 hours.
- On Friday, the A350-1000ULR touched down in Melbourne after Airbus completed the inaugural non-stop test flight from Toulouse, France, lasting more than 19 hours.
- Designed for the Project Sunrise initiative, the A350-1000ULR features a 20,000-liter extra fuel tank, enabling non-stop endurance of up to 22 hours to connect Australia with global destinations.
- Qantas configured the jet with only 238 seats, the "lowest seat density of any A350," and included a dedicated Wellbeing Zone for passenger comfort during ultra-long-haul travel.
- Following initial testing, the first of 12 bespoke aircraft is due for delivery in April 2027, with Qantas scheduled to launch commercial Project Sunrise flights in October 2027.
- These services aim to cut travel times on the "Kangaroo Route" to London, positioning the Australian airline to operate the world's longest non-stop commercial flights by late 2027.
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The European manufacturer has passed a test flight of more than 19 hours, without stopover, between Toulouse and Sydney. The Australian company Qantas intends to go one step further. ...
After taking off from Toulouse on Thursday 23 July, the Airbus A350-1000ULR landed in Melbourne on Friday morning at the end of a non-stop flight of nearly 17,000 kilometres. This extraordinary aircraft, assembled in Toulouse for the...
Meet the Qantas Project Sunrise Test Aircraft for the World’s Longest Non-Stop Flight
A very special Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft has arrived in Australia a couple of days ago and will fly back to France tomorrow. It’s not one of the actual Project Sunrise aircraft that will operate with the Qantas livery, but the test aircraft that is being used for the final phases of the flight test campaign before Project Sunrise takes off officially in October 2027. Project Sunrise is famous worldwide, and it should be, as o... (continue rea…
Qantas' New Plane Just Flew 10K-Plus Miles Nonstop
Qantas' next-generation long-haul jet just completed a 10,500-mile nonstop debut run to Australia. The Airbus A350-1000ULR touched down in Melbourne just before 11am on Friday after a roughly 19-hour test flight from Toulouse, France, drawing more than 67,000 online trackers and topping FlightRadar24's global watch list for the...
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