Qantas has completed what is believed to be the longest commercial flight ever undertaken, with an Airbus A350-1000ULR landing in Toulouse, France, on Tuesday after 24 hours and 24 minutes in the air from Melbourne. The flight forms part of Qantas's Project Sunrise, which aims to launch non-stop services between Australia's east coast and London and New York, cutting a journey that once took five days on the "Kangaroo Route" down to a single flight of around 19 to 21 hours.

The specially adapted aircraft, fitted with an extra fuel tank, covered 23,075km over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans without stopping, breaking the previous record of 22 hours and 42 minutes set by a Boeing 777-200LR in 2005. Flightradar24 said the flight was the second-most-tracked in its history, watched by more than 3.6 million people, behind only the 2024 flight carrying Queen Elizabeth II's coffin. Qantas has ordered 12 of the modified jets, with the first due for delivery in April 2027 and daily non-stop Sydney-London flights expected from October 2027.