Qantas Announces Start Date for Nonstop Sydney-London Flights

‍SYDNEY — Qantas (QF) will launch its first nonstop service between Sydney (SYD) and London (LON) from October 2027.

The announcement comes as QF unveiled its first Airbus A350-1000ULR in Qantas livery at Airbus’ manufacturing facility in Toulouse (TLS) - which is the result of years of development conquering the final frontier of long-haul aviation as part of Project Sunrise.

Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said confirmation of the launch route marks a new dawn of travel for customers around the world.

“We made a commitment in 2017 that Qantas would conquer the final frontier of long-haul aviation and connect Australia's east coast directly to London, something that has never before been possible. From October 2027, that promise becomes reality.” Hudson said.

Historic Kangaroo route

Qantas has been flying between SYD and LON since 1947, when the original Kangaroo Route took four days with seven stops en route. This included Darwin (DRW), Singapore (SIN), Calcutta (CCU), Karachi (KHI), Cairo (CAI), Castel Benito (TIP), and Rome (ROM), before reaching LHR.

The new service will indeed be the first time the Kangaroo Route has been flown nonstop from Australia's east coast.

“Since we first flew the Kangaroo Route in 1947, where we stopped seven times on the way to London, every generation of aircraft has taken a stop out of the journey. Today, we're taking out the last one." Hudson said.

The new nonstop flights will cut up to 4 hours off travel time compared to the current one-stop services.

These historic long-haul services will operate alongside Qantas’ existing Perth (PER)-London and Sydney-Singapore-London services. The first Project Sunrise Sydney-to-London services will go on sale in February 2027.

Ultra-long range flights

The Airbus A350-1000ULR, which will operate these flights, was specifically manufactured for Project Sunrise. The type carries over 170,000 liters of fuel. This massive capacity is achieved by combining the base standard A350-1000 capacity of approximately 156,000 to 168,300 liters with an additional 20,000-liter auxiliary rear center fuel tank, enabling the aircraft to fly more than 16,000 kilometers for up to 22 hours non-stop.

A second aircraft is moving through its eight-week testing and certification program, having taken flight for the first time earlier this month. Qantas will take delivery of 12 aircraft in total, each configured with 238 seats across four cabins.

Shrinking the World

Since 2018, more than 1.7 million passengers have flown on Qantas' non-stop long-haul services from PER to LON, ROM, and Paris (PAR), and from Melbourne (MEL) to Dallas (DFW) and from Auckland (AKL) to New York (NYC).

Daily non-stop services between SYD and LON will significantly expand travel options for customers traveling to the UK and Europe.

Hudson said the Project Sunrise experience represents a fundamentally different approach to long-haul travel.

“Eliminating the stopover saves customers up to four hours of travel time. This aircraft has been designed from the ground up for ultra long-haul travel, with a cabin built around science and combatting jetlag, with an onboard experience purpose-built for the length of the journey.” She said.

Project Sunrise will eventually connect Australia’s east coast with various international destinations. In fact, Sydney-New York has been confirmed as QF's next service to follow Sydney-London. Launch times for additional routes will be announced next year.

Preparing for launch

In preparation for the aircraft’s arrival next year, Qantas pilots have begun training on Australia’s first A350 simulator in SYD, and with British Airways (BA) in the UK. Over the coming months, some of QF's pilots will also fly with Cathay Pacific (CX) in Hong Kong (HKG).

Qantas’ current A330 pilots are making up the initial intake of Project Sunrise pilots, with 40 already training for the A350 alongside their existing A330 flying.

In total, more than 360 Qantas pilots and 1 200 cabin crew will be trained to operate Qantas’ fleet of Project Sunrise aircraft by the time the 12th A350ULR arrives.

On the ground, QF's engineers have also started classroom training in Sydney. Cabin crew will also begin this training shortly.