Nonstop Flight From Australia to France Sets World Record

Twenty-four hours. No stops.

Guinness World Records has recognized an Airbus A350-1000ULR for the longest flight ever flown by a commercial aircraft. It left Melbourne at 5:27 p.m. local time on Monday, July 27. It landed in Toulouse, France, at 9:51 a.m. local time the next day. That’s 24 hours and 24 minutes in the air, over 12,503 nautical miles. In everyday terms, about 14,388 miles, or 23,155 kilometers.

This Was A Test Flight

Don’t go looking for tickets. This was a test flight. Airbus ran it for Qantas, which wants the plane for something called Project Sunrise. Thirteen people were on board, and nobody paid to be there.

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the body that verifies air records, confirmed the flight. According to the record listing, the cockpit crew included three Airbus test pilots and two Qantas pilots.

The Route Was Not Direct

You’d figure a flight from Melbourne to Toulouse would cross Asia. This one went the other way. The plane headed north-east over Sydney and out across the Pacific toward Los Angeles. Then it crossed North America, flew over the Atlantic, passed right over London, and finally came down in southern France.

That’s how the distance got so big. The crew saw two sunrises and two sunsets along the way.

The Plane

The “ULR” in A350-1000ULR means ultra long range. The big change is an extra fuel tank holding 20,000 liters, about 5,283 gallons. Power comes from Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

Lars Wagner runs Airbus’ commercial aircraft business. He says his teams stretched the A350-1000’s range in a way that’s efficient and makes economic sense, and that they did it because Qantas pushed them. That part matters. A plane that can fly 24 hours but costs a fortune to run doesn’t help an airline much.

A Short History of Long Flights

Airlines have been chasing distance for a long time. The numbers show how far this one went.

In 1989, a Qantas Boeing 747-400 flew from London to Sydney on a delivery flight in 20 hours and 9 minutes. In 2002, a Qantas Airbus A330-200 flew between Toulouse and Melbourne, the same two cities as the new record, in 20 hours and 4 minutes. In 2005, a Boeing 777-200LR flew from Hong Kong to London in 22 hours and 43 minutes, covering more than 13,400 miles. The new flight beat that one by about an hour and 40 minutes.

In 2019, Qantas ran a nonstop London-to-Sydney test flight. It lasted 19 hours and 19 minutes and covered about 11,060 miles. And in 2020, an Air Tahiti Nui Boeing 787-9 flew nonstop from Tahiti to Paris, around 9,765 miles in about 16 hours, after pandemic travel bans forced the unusual routing.

How the Numbers Stack Up

The longest scheduled flight today runs from New York to Singapore, just under 19 hours. Qantas flies Dallas to Melbourne in around 17 and a half. Qatar Airways flies Doha to Auckland, about 14,535 kilometers.

The record flight went more than 8,600 kilometers past that one.

Why Nonstop Matters

For travelers going between Australia and Europe or the U.S. East Coast, a nonstop flight cuts out the layover. Right now, many people on those trips connect through a hub somewhere in Asia, the Middle East, or the U.S. West Coast. Dropping the connection saves the waiting time and the risk of a missed flight.

Airlines like it too. A fast, one-flight trip is a selling point.

The tradeoff is fuel. A plane has to carry a huge amount to go that far, which adds weight and cost. That’s why the extra tank and the range work on the A350-1000ULR matter so much.

What Happens Next

Passengers won’t be flying 24 hours, but Qantas plans to launch nonstop Sydney–London flights of up to 22 hours in October 2027, followed by Sydney–New York in mid-2028.

A test flight with 13 people is a long way from a full cabin. Meals, sleep, and crew rest all get harder once you pass 20 hours. Some travelers would love the nonstop trip. Others would take a layover in a second.

For now, Airbus and Qantas have the record. Next they have to find out whether anyone wants to sit through it.

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