Airbus Completes Historic 24 Hour Non‑Stop Test Flight with the A350‑1000ULR

Airbus has completed one of the most ambitious endurance trials in modern aviation, flying Qantas’ first A350‑1000ULR for 24 hours and 23 minutes non‑stop from Melbourne to Toulouse. The test, part of Qantas’ Project Sunrise, marks a decisive step toward launching ultra‑long‑haul routes that will connect Australia directly to London and New York.

The aircraft, test‑registered F‑WULR and named Vega, departed Melbourne at 17:27 on 27 July 2026, routing eastward across the Pacific, the United States, and Canada before touching down in France at 09:52 on 28 July. More than 120,000 people tracked the landing, which included a brief go‑around that added to the drama of the moment.

This flight followed an earlier 19‑hour Toulouse–Melbourne sector on 23–24 July, giving Airbus engineers two full‑length missions to analyse fuel behaviour, systems performance, and cabin‑environment data under extreme endurance conditions. The outbound leg crossed Italy, the Middle East, India, and Malaysia before reaching Australia, demonstrating the jet’s flexibility across global routes.

The A350‑1000ULR is built around a redesigned fuel architecture featuring a 20,000‑litre rear centre tank, extending its range by roughly 1,000 nautical miles and enabling flights of up to 22 hours. Airbus began flight‑testing the variant in June 2026, with its first flight lasting 3 hours 43 minutes and reaching 41,000 ft as engineers validated the new fuel system and cabin‑cooling upgrades.

Qantas plans to take delivery of 12 aircraft, with the first scheduled for April 2027. The airline has spent a decade researching passenger wellbeing with the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre and Caon Design Office, aiming to ensure travellers arrive refreshed after ultra‑long missions. The cabin will feature just 238 seats, the lowest density of any A350 worldwide, prioritising movement, space, and circadian‑aligned lighting.

This 24‑hour odyssey is more than a technical milestone, it is a preview of a new era in commercial aviation. With certification flights totalling 75–80 hours, Airbus and Qantas are closing in on making non‑stop Australia–UK and Australia–US travel a daily reality.