The world’s longest-range commercial aircraft has landed back in France after a mammoth first journey to and from Australia.
The plane was in the air for more than 24 hours without stopping.
The Airbus A350-1000ULR – custom-built for Qantas to fly non-stop between Sydney and London from October 2027 – became the second most tracked flight ever on its way to Melbourne last week.
The historic test flight took off from Toulouse, France on Thursday, July 23 at 7.33am local time (3.33pm AEST) and touched down in Melbourne on Friday, July 24 after 19 hours and 12 minutes in the air.
The aircraft began its return test flight just before 5.30pm on Monday, July 27 and tested one of the longest commercial routes possible.
It landed back in Toulouse about 24 hours and 20 minutes later on Tuesday evening, with more than 100,000 people tracking the landing live on Flightradar24.
The plane headed northeast and crossed the Pacific Ocean, before travelling over North America and the Atlantic Ocean before flying into southern France.
Qantas described it as “a very special flight path back to Toulouse”.
The flight to Melbourne was the second most tracked flight ever, only second to Queen Elizabeth II’s final flight carrying her coffin from Edinburgh to London in 2022.
There were 75,000 people watching the landing live on Flightradar24 on Friday, and the flight tracking platform reported 2,972,670 total follows over the 19 hour journey.
The test flight to Australia had four Airbus pilots and five flight test engineers on board. On the way back, two Qantas pilots joined the Airbus flight test crew.
The flights are significant in testing the jet’s specialised fuel system, which includes an additional 20,000 litre rear centre fuel tank that other A350-1000s do not have.
The extra fuel tank will allow the aircraft to fly commercially non-stop for up to 22 hours.
The aircraft had successfully completed its very first test flight of three hours 43 minutes over France and the French Atlantic Coast on June 2.
Qantas first announced Project Sunrise in 2017, and then ordered 12 custom-designed A350-1000ULR aircraft from Airbus in 2022.
The first aircraft was supposed to be delivered this year, but the delivery date has been delayed until April 2027. After the first aircraft is delivered, the remaining 11 will follow over the next two and a half years.
Melbourne gets a test flight but not the real thing
While the milestone test flight landed in Melbourne, there has been no indication when the city could actually get the non-stop flights for real.
News.com.au was at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse in June when Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson announced the first Project Sunrise route would be Sydney-London. Flights go on sale in February and take off in October next year.
Ms Hudson is expecting the Sydney-New York route to launch soon after the London service in the last couple months of 2027.
Qantas needs three aircraft to service each route daily, meaning there will be another six aircraft delivered after the Sydney-London and Sydney-New York daily services are up and running.
But, Ms Hudson would not disclose when Melbourne-London or Melbourne-New York could become a reality, only that there will be discussions after Sydney.
Ms Hudson said they hoped the launch of Sydney-London would stimulate demand for the service out of other airports.
“We’re going to be able to be announcing the routes progressively as the new aircraft come in over the next two and a half years,” she said.
“Demand can change. We know how demand can change, and we’re going to be responsive to that.”
When news.com.au asked Qantas chief financial officer Rob Marcolina why Sydney was chosen to kick start the Project Sunrise flights over Melbourne he said it was the size of the market that gave Sydney the advantage.
“Either would have been a great choice, but one of them had to go first and I think we’re really comfortable with it coming out of Sydney,” said the CFO, who is from Melbourne himself but now lives in Sydney.
The airline’s intention is to actually use those ultra-long range aircraft that arrive after the first six on existing routes like Perth-London and Auckland-New York.
Ms Hudson said it meant they could redeploy older aircraft and potentially further unlock new routes.
“That will free up the 787 and enable us to expand the network more broadly,” she explained.
“(An) exciting destination that we’ve wanted to fly to for years has been Chicago – locking in the east coast to Chicago. Potentially there are other ports in North America, in Canada, in South America and also from the west out of Perth to seasonally connect potentially Athens or Africa.”
Sydney to London via the North Pole
Qantas’ chief technical pilot Alex Passerini revealed an unusual flight path for the non-stop Sydney-London flight.
The new ‘north polar flight path’ will be used for about 20 per cent of the flights, particularly during the northern winter.
It may seem strange for the airline to choose the long way to London in terms of distance, but by avoiding winds at certain times of the year and with less air traffic, it can actually end up being the faster option.
Mr Passerini explained to news.com.au at Airbus headquarters in France that there are airlines that transverse the North Pole region today, but this will be a first for a commercial airline out of Australia.
“The whole approach is very different to what we used to,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we’re flying over the North Pacific, Alaska, Greenland, Iceland and into London from the north, which, you know, you really have to stop and have a think about that.
“There’s different air space we traverse, slightly different procedures, there’s some different things to think about in the polar region. Things like communications and space weather,” Mr Passerini said. “We go around the South Pole area on our flights to South America, so, we’re familiar with the South Pole region, but this is new for us as the North Pole region.”
From Qantas’ planning so far, the fastest flight time from Sydney to London would be 19 hours and 25 minutes, and the slowest would be 20 hours and 55 minutes. The flight time from Sydney to London is expected to be faster, between 18 and 20 hours.
Flight will turn dark for 12 hours
Passengers will cross between nine and 11 time zones on the journey to London and a whopping 14 to 16 on the New York flight, depending on the time of year.
Stuck in a plane for 21 hours and crossing time zones faster than their internal clocks, there is a lot to consider regarding the health of these future customers.
There is the challenge of sleep deprivation or mistimed sleep, fatigue and jet lag, long periods of immobility, and potential dehydration.
Qantas called on the expertise of Peter Cistulli, a professor of sleep medicine at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, to help.
Prof Cistulli explained that the traditional aeroplane model was to get passengers onto the aircraft safely, feed them, turn the lights out, then wake them up and feed them again.
But an optimised approach involved deliberately timing meals and sleep.
He said the strength of lighting, the colour and timing was “very important” in influencing our circadian clock, as well as what meals were served up and when.
“Light is the strongest environmental cue for the body clock,” he said.
Qantas decided on 12 lighting scenes for the A350-1000ULR, including a sunrise and sunset that gradually roll through the cabin, to help customers adjust.
Passengers can expect a huge 12 hour window of darkness to encourage sleep on the Sydney-London flight.
As for the food, Prof Cistulli said before sleep on the flight you want “not heavy, low fat, more protein”.
“You can use spices strategically when you want people to stay awake,” he added.
However, it’s looking like customers will still have the choice to participate.
When news.com.au asked if all the food would be optimised, Prof Cistulli said the optimised meal would likely just be an option on the menu with an asterisk indicating it’s the recommendation.
There is no detail yet on what the meals will be.
The aircraft also has a wellness zone located between premium economy and economy that is available to everyone, with guided exercises developed by the Charles Perkins Centre.
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