An Airbus A350-1000ULR completed a record-breaking test flight of more than 24 hours between Melbourne and Toulouse, demonstrating the technology behind Qantas's planned nonstop "Project Sunrise" services connecting Sydney with London and New York from 2027. The aircraft, built specifically for these ultra-long-haul routes, is fitted with an extra fuel tank and twin crew rest compartments to allow pilots to work in shifts, making such extreme journeys commercially viable for the first time.

The Melbourne-to-Toulouse leg took 24 hours and 25 minutes and covered 12,460 nautical miles across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and North America, following an earlier 19-hour-13-minute outbound flight from Toulouse to Melbourne. Pilots worked staggered four-hour shifts with two-hour handover overlaps, and two Qantas pilots joined the return leg alongside Airbus crew. The flight was tracked by more than 3.6 million people on Flightradar24, second only to the tracking figures for the RAF flight carrying Queen Elizabeth II's coffin in 2022, while Singapore Airlines currently holds the official record for the longest scheduled nonstop commercial flight.