Love long flights?
Australian carrier, Qantas, plans to begin selling tickets for new 18-hour (!) non-stop service between Sydney and New York in August 2027 for flights set to begin in mid-2028.
This will be the first ever non-stop commercial service between Australia and the New York and is part of the the airline’s Project Sunrise.
When it takes off, the non-stop flight will cut more than three hours off the total travel time compared with current one-stop services today.
New York is the second Project Sunrise route to be confirmed, following the 20-22 hour (!) Sydney to London non-stop flights that are set to begin in October 2027.
The Project Sunrise flights will be operated by a specially configured Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft.
The aircraft will be outfitted with an additional 20,000-litre fuel tank that enables the aircraft to fly more than 16,000 kilometres, and up to 22 hours non-stop.
Qantas plans to take delivery of 12 aircraft in total, each configured with 238 seats across four cabins. The first aircraft is expected to be delivered to Qantas in April 2027.
In preparation for the aircraft’s arrival, Qantas says pilots have started training on Australia’s first A350 simulator in Sydney. The carriers expects that 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 A350-1000ULR arrives.
“Conquering the tyranny of distance has been part of who Qantas is from the very beginning,” said Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson, “Reaching New York non-stop completes a vision we set out many years ago, and it’s a moment of enormous pride for the thousands of our people who have been working hard to make Project Sunrise a reality.”
