Qantas’ Project Sunrise jet breaks Guinness World Record

The record-breaking flight took off from Melbourne International Airport at 5:27pm local time on Monday 27 July, and landed at Airbus’ mainstay factory in Toulouse, France at 9:51am local time on Tuesday, 28 July.

Total flight time reached 24 hours and 24 minutes, with a total distance flown of 12,503 nautical miles, or 23,155km, officially cracking the Guinness World Record.

The flight included a total of 13 crew onboard, including three Airbus flight test pilots, two Qantas pilots, five Airbus flight test engineers, two Airbus design engineers, and a representative of the International Aeronautical Federation.

The aircraft data had to be independently verified by both the International Aeronautical Federation and teams at Flightradar24 before the World Record title could be officially handed down.

True to the Project Sunrise name, the onboard crews chased the sun, witnessing two sunsets and two sunrises as well as three continents and two oceans on their 24-hour-long journey.

According to Lars Wagner, the CEO of commercial aircraft at Airbus, the achievement “reflects the pioneering and innovative spirit” that went into the design of Qantas’ custom ultra-long range aircraft that can connect Australia to essentially any city on the planet.

VIEW ALL

>

“In responding to the challenge laid down by Qantas, our teams came together to extend the range of the A350-1000 in an efficient and economically viable way to undertake the world’s longest ever commercial flights,” Wagner said.

“Flying 12,503 nautical miles non-stop, we have fully proven the aircraft’s capability to fulfill its mission. And the world record was the icing on the cake!”

The flight was intended to do more than simply clinch the record title, and served as the latest in a series of test flights, monitoring how the aircraft and its unique additional 20,000 centralised fuel tank hold up on what will be the longest commercial flights in the world.

It comes as Qantas revealed that its Project Sunrise direct flights from Sydney to London will take over the flagship QF1 and QF2 flight numbers when services begin next year.

QF1 and QF2, which are currently used for Sydney to London flights via Singapore, will be switched to the non-stop A350-1000ULR flights on their launch in October 2027.

“The Kangaroo Route first began flying from Sydney–London in 1947, when the journey took four days and seven stops. For almost 80 years, generations of Qantas aircraft, from the Lockheed Constellation to the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380, have brought Sydney and London closer together,” the Flying Kangaroo said in a press release.

“Through it all, QF1 and QF2, our most iconic flight number pair, have long been associated with that journey and a key part of Qantas’ history.

“In October 2027, that journey becomes non-stop with the launch of Project Sunrise, saving customers up to four hours in travel time compared to the existing service.”

Instead, the Sydney to London via Singapore service will switch to the designation of QF5 and QF6, while the existing seasonal service between Perth and Rome, which is currently designated as QF5 and QF6, will change to QF105 and QF106.