MELBOURNE — Qantas has completed a major milestone in its ambitious “Project Sunrise” program, landing its first ultra-long-range Airbus A350-1000ULR in Melbourne after a non-stop 17,000-kilometre journey from Toulouse, France.
The test flight took 19 hours and 15 minutes to span the globe, taking off from Airbus’ assembly facilities in Toulouse and touching down at Melbourne Airport. Operating without commercial passengers, the aircraft carried four Airbus flight test pilots and five flight test engineers equipped with specialized monitoring systems and over 1,000 sensors. The crew conducted extensive in-flight evaluations, testing aircraft systems and validating the performance of a newly engineered 20,000-litre center fuel tank designed specifically for ultra-long-haul endurance.
The marathon flight represents a critical step toward Qantas’ goal of establishing scheduled, non-stop commercial services linking Australia’s east coast directly with London and New York. When launched, those commercial routes are expected to cut up to four hours off total travel times by eliminating layovers.
Was 19 Hours and 15 Minutes the Longest Direct Flight Ever?
No, 19 hours and 15 minutes is not the longest direct flight in aviation history. While remarkably long for a modern twin-engine jet test flight, several notable non-stop flights have logged significantly longer durations and distances:
1. Longest Commercial Jetliner Test Flight (22 Hours, 22 Minutes)
The world record for the longest non-stop distance and duration flown by a commercial jetliner belongs to a Boeing test flight in November 2005. A Boeing 777-200LR (“Worldliner”) flew eastbound from Hong Kong to London Heathrow via the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. It covered 21,601 kilometres and remained airborne for 22 hours and 22 minutes.
2. Piston-Engine Era Records (23 Hours+)
During the 1950s, piston-powered airliners routinely battled strong headwinds over extreme distances:
- Trans World Airlines (TWA) L-1649A Starliner (1957): Flying non-stop from London to San Francisco against severe headwinds, the aircraft remained in the air for 23 hours and 19 minutes.
3. Historical Airborne Duration Records (32 Hours+)
- Qantas “Double Sunrise” (1943): During World War II, Qantas operated weekly non-stop flights between Perth, Australia, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) using Catalina flying boats. Due to low cruising speeds, the longest single flight spent 32 hours and 9 minutes continuously airborne.
4. Non-Commercial Aviation Records
If including non-commercial experimental aircraft, the absolute record belongs to the Rutan Voyager in 1986, which flew non-stop around the world without refueling in 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds (216 hours).
