Airbus Operates 19-Hour A350 Test Flight To Australia Ahead Of Qantas Project Sunrise
Project Sunrise is back in the news as the world’s most tracked plane
Airbus has just completed a history-making flight, operating Qantas' new Airbus A350-1000ULR for Project Sunrise to Australia as part of its flight testing and certification program.
Qantas is set to conquer the final frontier of long-haul travel from October 2027, operating the A350 non-stop between Sydney and London. At up to 22 hours flight time, this will become the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world.
The first Airbus A350-1000ULR ever built touched down in Melbourne on Friday at 10:46am local time, after a 19 hour and 13 minute flight from the Airbus final assembly line in Toulouse, France. The flight AIB35LR even became the number one most tracked flight on Flightradar24 for its journey down under.
The history-making flight to Australia was operated by four Airbus flight test pilots and five flight test engineers, who were tasked with putting the new A350’s systems through several safety and regulatory checks.
The Airbus jet is expected to operate a return flight from Melbourne to Toulouse on Monday 27 July. An insider source told Flight Hacks that Airbus has set the departure time for 4:30pm, however this could change on the day. For the journey north, two Qantas pilots will join the Airbus crew for the flight back to France.
Airbus’ test A350-1000ULR wears Airbus test registration F-WULR, and is fitted with around 5 tonnes of flight testing instrumentation and 1,000 custom sensors. Of course the baseline Airbus A350-1000 is fully proven, and entered service over eight years ago with Etihad in February 2018. But the A350-1000ULR, which has been specifically manufactured by Airbus for Qantas’ Project Sunrise, features a number of new advanced systems to allow it to fly commercially non-stop for up to 22 hours.
The ULR main structural change is the addition of a 20,000 litre rear centre fuel tank that enables a range of around 10,000 nautical miles. Therefore, one of the main focuses of the two-month certification campaign is the fuel system. Of course, Airbus could fly laps of Europe for 19 hours to test the jet, but flying it to Australia represents an excellent opportunity for even more Project Sunrise press coverage.
Meanwhile, the first A350-1000ULR painted in the Qantas livery continues to take shape on the Airbus final assembly line. The aircraft, registered VH-OJA and named Vega, will be the first Project Sunrise aircraft delivered to Qantas, in April 2027. The test aircraft seen today in Melbourne will be delivered shortly after this.
Qantas' claims that its non-stop services between Sydney and London will save customers up to four hours compared to the fastest one-stop service offered today. These historic services will operate alongside Qantas’ existing Perth-London and Sydney-Singapore-London services. The first Project Sunrise Sydney to London is expected to go on sale in February 2027.
