Airbus is supplying Qantas with the first A350-1000ULR in April next year, marking a major fleet upgrade for the airline’s long-haul network. The aircraft is central to the planned nonstop Sydney-London route, with the inaugural Project Sunrise flight scheduled for October 2027.
Test flying is underway from Airbus’s base in Toulouse, where engineers are validating that the ultra-long-range variant performs as promised under real-world conditions. Engineers are flying the jet in demanding scenarios to verify fuel burn, performance and systems reliability over extreme distances.
One centrepiece of the programme is a marathon 17,000km sector from Toulouse to Melbourne, planned for July 24 and awaiting final sign-off from Airbus. That route length mirrors the kind of endurance expected on Project Sunrise, giving the manufacturer and Qantas data on how the A350-1000ULR handles near-maximum-range missions.
