Qantas Project Sunrise arrives in Melbourne after 19-hour flight

The Airbus A350-1000ULR set to conquer the final frontier of long-haul travel will land on Australian soil for the first time today, as the flight test campaign for Project Sunrise reaches a major milestone.

The first A350-1000ULR to take to the skies will touch down in Melbourne on Friday 24 July, following an extensive test flight from Airbus’ manufacturing facility in Toulouse. From October 2027, these aircraft will operate Qantas’ world-first non-stop services between Sydney and London, the longest non-stop commercial flights in the world.

The test flight from Toulouse is being operated by four Airbus flight test pilots and five flight test engineers, who are putting the aircraft’s systems through their paces, including the additional 20,000-litre fuel tank that allows it to fly commercially non-stop for up to 22 hours.

The return flight to Toulouse will depart Melbourne on Monday 27 July as part of the Airbus flight test program. Two Qantas pilots will join the Airbus flight test crew on board for the journey back to France.

The aircraft completed its first flight on 2 June 2026. In the weeks since, Airbus’ test teams have carried out extensive testing on the ground and in the air in Toulouse, including of the aircraft’s redesigned fuel system.

The first A350-1000ULR painted in the Qantas livery, named Vega, continues to take shape on the Airbus final assembly line. Vega will be the first Project Sunrise aircraft delivered to Qantas, in April 2027.

Qantas’ world-first non-stop services between Sydney and London will save customers up to four hours compared with the fastest one-stop service today. These historic ultra long-haul services will operate alongside Qantas’ existing Perth-London and Sydney-Singapore-London services. The first Project Sunrise Sydney to London services will go on sale in February 2027.

The A350-1000ULR has been specifically manufactured by Airbus for Project Sunrise. Qantas will take delivery of 12 aircraft in total, each configured with 238 seats across four cabins.

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