Airbus Completes 24-hour Return Flight of Qantas' First A350-1000ULR

‍TOULOUSE — The Airbus/Qantas Project Sunrise is one step closer to entering service. The airline today completed a major test – a nonstop flight from Melbourne (MEL) to Toulouse (TLS) with the first A350-1000ULR built for Qantas (QF). The aircraft will be used on the airline's Project Sunrise routes.

The aircraft, registered F-WULR and carrying manufacturer serial number 707, departed Melbourne on July 27 and landed in Toulouse the following day after more than 24 hours in the air. Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 shows the journey lasted 24 hours and 25 minutes, making it one of the longest flights ever performed by an Airbus aircraft.

This return flight followed the aircraft's delivery test mission to Australia. It had departed Toulouse on July 23 and reached Melbourne after a flight of more than 19 hours.

Project Sunrise

Project Sunrise is Qantas' effort to make nonstop passenger flights from Australia's east coast to destinations on the opposite side of the world—most importantly Sydney–London and Sydney–New York.

The project dates to 2017, when Qantas challenged Airbus and Boeing to produce an aircraft capable of flying these routes commercially. Qantas ultimately selected Airbus' A350-1000 and ordered 12 specially configured A350-1000ULRs in 2022. 

Airbus says that the idea is deceptively simple:

• Sydney → London: nonstop, roughly 19–22 hours
• Sydney → New York: nonstop, roughly 19–22 hours

That eliminates a stop in places such as Singapore, Dubai, Doha or Los Angeles and can save passengers up to about four hours of total journey time. However, this presents a major engineering challenge because the airplane has to carry enough fuel, passengers, crew, cargo and reserves for a flight approaching 10,000 nautical miles.

The Aircraft: A350-1000ULR

Among the most important modifications is the 20,000-liter rear center fuel tank, whose addition allows the ultra-long routes. This extra capacity gives the jet around 1,000 nautical miles more range than the standard A350-1000. 

As the standard A350 already has center fuel tanks, the ULR's additional tank uses space in the rear center fuselage that normally would not be devoted to fuel. This, of course, created engineering problems and reconsiderations of increased weight, center of gravity changes, fuel transfer, system redundancy, and passenger load.

A major purpose of the test flights is to demonstrate that the larger fuel load can be properly managed throughout the entire flight envelope. During certification testing, Airbus is examining fuel pumps, fuel gauges, pressure systems, fuel transfer, tank sequencing, fuel quantity measurement, fuel management software, and fuel behavior at different altitudes and flight phases.

Another modification is the newly developed galley air-cooling system (NGAC). The system uses lighter, more efficient refrigeration units and saves approximately 300 kilograms of weight. Airbus says the technology will subsequently become standard across the A350 family.

Wellbeing Zone

Qantas has created what it calls the world's first purpose-built onboard Wellbeing Zone. It's located between Premium Economy and Economy. Passengers can get up and stretch, move around, hydrate, use integrated stretch handles, follow guided movement programs, and get refreshments. 

This zone helps alleviate the physiological effects of spending almost an entire day in a pressurized aluminum/composite tube.

Configuration

The Qantas Project Sunrise aircraft will carry only 238 passengers – a small number for an A350 jet:

The small number of passengers shows that Qantas has designed the aircraft around the concept of wellbeing, rather than simply cramming in as many seats as possible. This makes the aircraft more a premium ultra-long-range flagship than a high-capacity people mover.

Tickets for Project Sunrise flights are scheduled to go on sale in the spring with service beginning in October 2027.