Direct long-haul travel is a step closer, with a new Qantas ultra-long-distance aircraft landing in Australia for the first time.
The Airbus A350-1000ULR touched down in Melbourne on Friday after a 19-hour test flight all the way from Toulouse, in France.
The planes have been designed to fly up to 22 hours nonstop for what will be the longest commercial flights in the world.
Qantas expects to begin its Project Sunrise Sydney to London direct route in October 2027, conquering what it says will be “the final frontier of long-haul travel”.
Air traffic control guided the French crew to touch down with a very Aussie welcome.
“G’day, welcome to Melbourne,” airport tower control relayed to the nine-person crew.
The flight was tracked on Flightradar24 by more 2.9 million people, making it the second most-tracked flight of all time.
Qantas chief financial officer Rob Marcolina and Melbourne Airport chief executive Lorie Argus greeted the four pilots and five engineers at Tullamarine.
“Qantas is buying aircraft and we are building Qantas a third runway, and expanding the international terminal,” Ms Argus told reporters.
Aviation expert and RMIT Aviation Academy senior manager Justin Brownjohn said more non-stop routes would become viable as aircraft range improved and fuel use fell.
“Airlines have historically competed on network and frequency, but Project Sunrise competes on time,” he said.
“Cutting up to four hours off the journey from Sydney to London and removing the connection entirely is a different product, not an improved version of the existing one.”
Mr Brownjohn said the strongest demand would come from business and premium leisure passengers who valued the hours saved enough to justify a premium fare.
“This is where airline margins live,” he said.
“These services won’t replace one-stop flying – they’ll sit alongside it.”
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