Built to operate non-stop routes such as Sydney-London and Sydney-New York for Qantas’s Project Sunrise, the aircraft instead flew “home” to France via the United States and the United Kingdom. Engineers expected the repositioning journey to run close to 24 hours, already longer than the aircraft’s targeted 22-hour mission profile. A last-minute “touch and go” pass at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport added extra time in the air, stretching an already punishing schedule for the test crew.
The final flight time reached 24 hours and 25 minutes, pushing the airframe and systems deep into ultra-long-haul territory. Flight-tracking platform Flightradar24 recorded more than 3.6 million people following the aircraft’s progress, the second-highest total in the service’s history.
Only one flight has attracted more attention on the service, the Royal Air Force C-17 that transported Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin from Edinburgh to RAF Northolt on 13 September 2022, watched by 4.79 million users.
