World's longest flight to launch next year: passengers will spend 22 hours in the sky

Illustrative image. A Qantas Boeing 737 takes off from Sydney Airport, Australia. Photo: AP Photo / Mark Baker, File

The record-breaking direct flight is scheduled to open in October next year. This was officially announced by the Australian airline Qantas Airways during a presentation at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France. The journey between the cities, located on opposite sides of the globe, is expected to take between 19 and 22 hours, depending on air currents.

As reported by The Times, Qantas will use specially modified Airbus A 350‑1000ULR (Ultra Long Range) aircraft to service this route. These aircraft are capable of covering more than 16,000 kilometers without refueling. To ensure such autonomy, designers installed an additional fuel tank, which holds about 20,000 liters of fuel.

Qantas has been developing the London — Sydney non-stop flight project since 2017. However, the launch was repeatedly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later due to problems in global supply chains for aviation parts.

This initiative was named Project Sunrise — in honor of Qantas' historic 1943 flight between Perth, Australia, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). To avoid radar detection, pilots at that time stayed in the air for up to 33 hours non-stop, during which they observed two sunrises.

Passengers on the new Qantas flight from London to Sydney will also see two sunrises, as the airliner will travel through nine time zones, covering a distance of 17,015 kilometers.

Sydney will not be the first Australian city to be connected to London by a direct air link. As early as 2018, Qantas launched a non-stop route between the UK capital and Perth, lasting about 17 hours. This flight is currently temporarily suspended due to restrictions on the use of airspace over the Middle East.

Today, the title of the world's longest regular direct flight is held by Singapore Airlines' route between Singapore and New York. The distance of 15,349 kilometers is covered in less than 19 hours. However, as notes Associated Press, the Singaporean flight SQ24 has a significant feature: it does not include an economy class, focusing only on premium segments.

To realize its ambitious project, Qantas ordered 12 new Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft. Following a long tradition, all of them will be named after stars — a tribute to classic celestial navigation methods.

While the standard Airbus A 350‑1000 is designed to carry up to 480 passengers, the Qantas version will have only 238 seats. This is done to increase comfort and reduce the weight of the aircraft. Of the total, 140 seats will be allocated to economy class. There will also be a special "Wellbeing Zone" on board, located between the economy and premium economy cabins. There, people will be able to stretch their legs and independently get drinks and snacks, which is important for physical well-being during an almost day-long flight.

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"Wellbeing Zone". Photo: qantas.com

Qantas is expected to receive the first aircraft for these purposes in April 2027. Ticket sales for Project Sunrise flights are planned to open in February of the same year. The exact cost of the flight has not yet been announced, but company representatives openly state that a direct flight will be significantly more expensive than options with transfers. The main argument for the high price is time savings — a non-stop flight will allow passengers to save up to four hours typically spent on layovers in Singapore or other hubs.

After the successful launch of the Sydney — London route, the airline plans to open another ultra-long-haul direction — between Sydney and New York. In the long term, other direct flights from Australia's east coast to major cities in Europe and North America, including Chicago, may also appear.

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