Australian airline Qantas has set a new Guinness World Record by completing the longest nonstop flight ever made by a commercial aircraft, a direct journey between Melbourne (Australia) and Toulouse (France) operated with an Airbus A350-1000ULR—the ultra-long-range radio— which lasted for more than 24 hours.
In a statement, Airbus has said that the record has been determined from data from the aircraft itself, independently verified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and the flightradar24 platform.
The aircraft took off from Melbourne at 17:27 local time on Monday 27 July and landed in Toulouse at 09:51 local time (07:51 UTC) on Tuesday 28 July. In total, it covered 12,503 nautical miles, equivalent to 23,155 kilometers, with a flight duration of 24 hours and 24 minutes.
This flight formed part of the in-flight test campaign for the A350-1000ULR that Airbus develops specifically for Qantas Airways within the so-called Project Sunrise.
There were 13 occupants on board the aircraft. The flight crew included three Airbus test pilots, two Qantas pilots, and five Airbus flight-test engineers. Completing the passengers were two Airbus design engineers and a representative of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
The A350-1000ULR will make it possible for Qantas Airways for the first time to operate nonstop flights between Sydney and London and between Sydney and New York, routes close to 10,000 nautical miles and with flight times of up to 22 hours. This is achieved, above all, thanks to the addition to the aircraft’s structure of an additional rear central tank (RCT), which improves the model’s performance and extends its range by 1,000 nautical miles.
The A350-1000ULR is the fourth passenger variant of the A350 family, Airbus’s best-selling one, which already includes the A350-900, the A350-900ULR, and the A350-1000. In addition to this passenger offering, the new A350F freighter will soon be added, also under development at Airbus, whose first flight is planned for the end of this year.
At the end of October 2026, the A350 family had accumulated 1,628 orders from 70 customers, with more than 740 units already in operation with 42 airlines, mostly destined for long-haul routes around the planet.
As part of the Sunrise Project, Qantas has requested twelve A350-1000ULR aircraft. Delivery of the first aircraft is scheduled for next April, and its deployment on the Sydney-London route will take place later that same year. In addition, the airline has also ordered another twelve A350-1000 in its standard version to strengthen its global long-haul network.