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Qantas Airways has said it will start its “Project Sunrise” ultra long-haul flights in early 2027 as the Australian carrier bets on strong passenger demand for direct routes.
Vanessa Hudson, chief executive, said the first of 12 Airbus A350-1000 planes on order would be delivered at the end of next year. The airline plans to offer customers some of the world’s longest flights between London and Sydney, and New York and Sydney. No decision has yet been made about which route will be launched first. The flights are expected to take up to 19 hours.
Passengers on the aircraft are expected to pay an estimated 20 per cent premium on London to Sydney tickets, but Hudson said the airline was getting positive customer feedback on its current direct service between London and Perth that it launched in 2018.
Project Sunrise is part of a wider refresh of the airline’s fleet with previous plans to upgrade its planes delayed in recent years. When the carrier ordered its planes in 2022, it had announced a 2025 launch for the ultra long-haul flights. It was then pushed back in part after regulators asked Airbus to redesign the extra fuel tank on the aircraft.
Qantas was still “very confident” in demand for the services, Hudson told reporters on the sidelines of an Airbus event in Toulouse. She added that customer feedback had shown passengers were prepared to pay for the premium experience.
“There are absolutely customers who say, ‘I value getting there in one stop. I value point to point. I value the premium experience, and I’m prepared to pay for that’,” said Hudson.
Given the flights’ length, the airline is working with the Charles Perkins Centre in Sydney to study how passengers will be able to manage jet lag, “when to eat, when to sleep, when to move”, said Hudson. “We will be building that into an integral part of the in-flight experience.”
Qantas pilots have collected 12 months’ worth of wind data and are doing flight planning simulations. “There will be limits in terms of payload we will be able to manage,” said Hudson on the number of passengers, cargo and baggage the plane can carry.
The airline will still need to carry out local certification flights before starting services.
“We will need three aircraft to be able to have a daily service, either from Sydney to New York or Sydney to London. Then, as the other aircraft come on, we’ll be able to fill out the network,” Hudson said, but did not name any other routes.
The successful launch of the project is a key test for Hudson, a Qantas veteran, who took over from long-serving predecessor Alan Joyce in 2023. She took the reins at a time when the Australian airline suffered a reputational crisis owing to severe service issues and a regulatory investigation into its practices, such as the sale of tickets on flights that did not exist.
The airline, which also owns budget brand Jetstar Airways, has invested in improving its service — including in-flight food and complaints handling — and its shares hit a record high in January this year after it revamped its loyalty programme.
However, the airline has faced renewed competition from its main domestic rival Virgin Airlines after Qatar Airways acquired a 25 per cent stake in the Australian business, which intensified competition on lucrative international routes via the Middle East.
Asked about disruption to Qantas flights during last week’s outage at London’s Heathrow airport, Hudson said the carrier had to reroute two of its flights to Paris and then bus passengers to the UK. Hudson said the airline had not considered taking legal action but added that such events were “incredibly costly” to operators.
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