World's longest flight launching next year will see passengers witness the sunrise twice

Joe Harker
2026-03-07T16:13:22.659Z
Lifestyle

It'll go from Sydney to London without stopping

From next year the longest direct flight in the world will launch and take people between London and Sydney without stopping for a break.

The plane will be in the air for over 20 hours before touching down onto solid ground once more, making this one journey you definitely wouldn't want to rawdog.

Australia's airliner Qantas is planning on operating routes from Sydney to both London and New York, with each journey crossing over 10,000 miles in the span of less than a day.

The aircraft that'll do this flying is the Airbus A350-1000ULR, and that 'ULR' stands for 'Ultra Long Range' in case you were wondering.

It's all part of something called 'Project Sunrise', which is fitting because when they tried a test run of the route a few years ago passengers saw the sunrise twice on the same journey.

Over 20 hours in the sky, it'll be the longest nonstop direct flight in the world (James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

At present the longest direct flight in the world is Singapore to New York, which lasts just over 19 hours and is one hell of a long trip for anyone to be on, but Project Sunrise will beat it.

Meanwhile, the longest flight route in the world goes from Shanghai in China to Buenos Aires in Argentina, a trip that takes a whopping 29 hours but is not continuous as it has to stop over in New Zealand to refuel.

So while that is technically the longest plane route in the world, this new one from Sydney to London is the longest a passenger plane will go in the skies without stopping over anywhere to refuel or rest.

As for the name 'Project Sunrise', that's a homage to the Second World War and the 'Double Sunrise' endurance flights from Perth, Australia to the island that was called Ceylon back then but is now known as Sri Lanka.

No other flight in the world will go this far without stopping (James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

Back then Qantas pilots flew PBY Catalina seaplanes nonstop for journeys of up to 30 hours, as the Japanese taking Singapore in 1942 would otherwise have cut Australia off from air travel.

The modified aircraft with a skeleton crew and extra fuel made the journey 271 times and saw the sunrise twice on the way, hence the inspiration for the current title.

Now of course planes can fly faster and carry more people, with space for 238 passengers in total on board this upcoming route, and for those making the trip it'll be a challenge between juggling the need pass the time with seeing what's just outside the window.

According to Forbes, test flights with the newly made plane will begin later this year and if all goes well then the first passenger journeys will be made in the first half of 2027.