Flight times over 19 hours have become somewhat the norm. Xiamen Airlines, for example, operate a 19 hour 20 minute service from New York to Fuzhou on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Singapore Airlines is well known for its long-haul routes, flying from Newark to Singapore in 19 hours 10 minutes and from New York to Singapore in 18 hours 55 minutes.
Over recent years, long-haul routes connecting London to Australia have also become popular. Qantas Airways launched its nonstop route between London and Perth in 2018, which became particularly successful after the pandemic. The Australian carrier covers the 9,009 mile distance in approximately 17 hours 45 minutes.
But beyond all this, there is a new future of long-haul travel: ultra-long-haul travel.
Qantas Airways announced ambitious plans to fly direct from Sydney to Europe and New York in 2017. After almost a decade, passengers will now be able to fly nonstop between London and Sydney, a journey of 22 hours, by 2027.
Aptly named Project Sunrise, as the flight crosses two sunrises, this route should cut off roughly four hours from the average travel time of one-stop services. But flying for almost a day has forced Qantas to make some serious changes to its aircraft design and comfort, potentially altering the future of long-haul travel altogether.
Project Sunrise will “fundamentally change the way our customers travel the world”, said Qantas Group chief executive officer Vanessa Hudson.
The aircraft
Qantas challenged both Boeing and Airbus to deliver an aircraft capable of ultra-long-haul flying. In May 2022, Qantas made its choice, ordering 12 Airbus A350-1000s fitted with a 20,000 litre fuel tank. The first round of deliveries is scheduled to arrive later this year.
The aircraft has a wingspan of 64.75 metres, and is over 73 metres in length. There is seating for 238 passengers, ranging from 3-3-3 configurations in Economy Class to 1-1-1 configurations in First Class suites.
The route
While certainly nonstop, this is far from a straightforward route. European, US, and other carriers from countries that support Ukraine, have been blocked from flying over Russian airspace since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The most direct route between London and Sydney, however, involves travelling roughly four hours over Russian territory. Due to the complicated geopolitics of modern-day, pilots are having to rethink their options. They are examining wind data and flight-planning simulations, and most recent suggestions point towards travel over Japan and the North Pole.
Comfort onboard
Qantas has collaborated with industry leaders to maximise both comfort and wellbeing on the flight. All passengers can access a dedicated wellbeing zone, where they can self-serve refreshments. Here, passengers can also follow guided health content and stretch using the sculpted walls.
The seat pitch in Economy Class is 33 inches, the airline’s largest for this passenger type. Premium Economy passengers have a seat pitch of 40 inches.
For the first time, Qantas Business suites will feature a sliding door and an adjustable divider between the alternating middle seats. There will also be six First Class suites, featuring a flat bed separate from the armchair.
The cost
Hudson said that fares are expected to be a fifth more than existing flights between London and Sydney. The Independent‘s travel editor, Simon Calder, predicts the figure to be much higher.
“I forecast it could be consistently higher than 50%, because of the huge London-Sydney market and limited supply,” he wrote in a recent article on the topic. “At times when Singapore Airlines is charging £1,000 (US$1373) return, I would expect Qantas nonstop fares to be in the range £1,600-£2,000 ($2197-$2746).”
