Qantas unveils Project Sunrise Airbus A350-1000ULR for 22-hour Sydney-London flights

Qantas has finally put a number to what it’s been chasing: a custom Airbus A350-1000ULR designed for flights lasting up to 22 hours nonstop, starting with a new Sydney-to-London route. Airbus Qantas unveiled its first customized aircraft for “Project Sunrise,” and if the timeline holds, bookings for the first flight open in February 2027, with the inaugural taking off in October 2027.

This is not a cosmetic long-haul upgrade. The modified A350-1000ULR is built around extreme range endurance and passenger health, using extra fuel capacity and a set of cabin and systems changes intended to make nearly a day in the air more bearable. Qantas is using what it calls a “wellbeing zone,” luxury cabins including a first-class suite modelled around separate beds, and a more deliberate approach to jet lag via enhanced lighting and circadian rhythm systems.

Behind the spectacle is a hard operational reality: nonstop is only “better” if the plane can actually do it, and if regulators can certify the modifications. Airbus has begun flight testing the modified A350-1000ULR in France as it works toward European certification. If testing goes smoothly, the test aircraft will be stripped of its test equipment, outfitted with the intended passenger cabins, and delivered to Qantas. That is the regulatory checkpoint that matters because it turns a marketing concept into an asset that can be scheduled, priced, and sold.

The “how” of the range is where this project stops being aspirational. The Qantas A350-1000ULR is equipped with a new 5,300-gallon rear-center fuel tank that complements three others in the belly and wings. Airbus says these tanks include “highly sensitive sensors” that continuously monitor fuel flow, temperature, and overall performance. Airbus also added a new galley cooling system meant to reduce weight and keep catering fresh for longer, but Airbus notes these novel systems must be thoroughly tested before certification. Because the test aircraft is the same one destined for Qantas’ fleet, Airbus had little room for error and custom-built five metric tons of monitoring equipment to support the program.

Even the cabin testing is engineered, not guessed. Airbus flight-test engineers have workstations on Qantas’ A350-1000 ULR for the certification campaign, and the galley system simulation includes “dummy” passengers to replicate real body heat and monitor cabin temperature. Qantas is not treating passenger wellbeing as a nice-to-have either. The core rationale is based on Qantas’ years of research into how ultra-long flights affect passenger movement, sleep, and alertness, and the cabin plan leans into science and circadian rhythm with 12 lighting scenes, including “Sunrise,” “Sunset,” and “Awake,” to help passengers adjust to destination time zones and mitigate jet lag.

On board, the product is built for low density and premium-heavy yield. Qantas’ ULR fleet is planned with a low-density cabin featuring 238 seats, far fewer than the roughly 400 passengers a typical A350-1000 variant can accommodate. Seats are split across four cabins: six in first class, 52 in business class, 40 in premium economy, and 140 in regular coach. First class is expected to be highly priced and features a sliding door, a separate recliner and 80-inch bed, a full-length wardrobe, and space for two people to chat or dine together, effectively acting like a mini hotel room. Business class is also suite-style with a door and lie-flat beds, while premium economy includes leg and footrests and winged headrests. Qantas says economy class will offer more legroom than on any of its other planes.

Crucially for the competitive map, this aircraft is positioned to eliminate Qantas’ current one-stop routing to London and cut travel time by four hours. The implications are immediate. Qantas’ planned nonstop also targets a record holder: it would dethrone Singapore Airlines’ current world’s longest flight between Singapore and New York, which takes 19 hours and covers about 9,500 miles. Project Sunrise is expected to open new market opportunities by attracting premium leisure and business travelers willing to pay for the convenience of these new nonstop flights. But exclusivity has a cost structure: the report notes flyers will likely pay a premium because of lower capacity, higher fuel and crew expenses, and the aircraft’s exclusivity on the nonstop route.

None of this comes on schedule. Project Sunrise is about five years behind schedule due to a mix of COVID-related constraints, the complexity of the A350 redesign, defects on the plane’s Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, and supply chain bottlenecks. Qantas isn’t just launching a flight; it’s trying to time a market moment after years of delays, training, and rework. The carrier is training more than 360 pilots and 1,200 flight attendants for a planned fleet of 12 Project Sunrise A350-1000ULRs. And there is a narrative link too: the name nods to the airline’s “double sunrise” route from more than 80 years ago, when Australia and England were connected via several stops over multiple days during World War II.

For executives watching this, the second-order question is simple: can premium demand pay for a radically different flying product often enough to justify the operating and capital intensity? If Qantas successfully commercializes a 22-hour nonstop with a science-backed cabin and certification-complete aircraft, it pressures rivals to rethink how they compete on time, comfort, and yield. The plane is the headline. The real move is whether Qantas can turn that one nonstop route into a repeatable strategy across other international destinations, with Qantas’ second Project Sunrise city, New York, planned next year alongside additional announcements.