Airbus recently announced that its newly developed ultra-long-range wide-body passenger aircraft A350-1000ULR successfully completed its first test flight. It is currently positioned as the longest-range civil jet airliner in the world, with a maximum range of nearly 10,000 nautical miles. It can support non-stop ultra-long route operations of about 22 hours from Sydney to London.The prototype took off from the Airbus base in Toulouse, France, on June 2, local time. The test flight lasted 3 hours and 43 minutes, reaching a maximum flight altitude of 41,000 feet (approximately 12,500 meters), marking the entry of this model project into a new stage of flight testing and airworthiness certification.
For a long time, flying from Sydney and Melbourne, the major cities in eastern Australia, to London, New York and other antipodal cities has been regarded as a "long journey". After the end of World War II, it took up to four weeks to travel from Australia to Europe by steam passenger ship. Even at that time, seaplanes took about 12 days and nine stops, even if the time was greatly reduced. After jet airliners were put into long-distance passenger transport in 1959, the relevant route time was shortened to about 33 hours, but it still required three refueling transfers.
In the nearly 70 years of technological evolution since then, even as the performance of long-distance passenger aircraft has continued to improve, ultra-long routes from Australia to Europe and the United States still generally require at least one stop at hubs such as Singapore, Dubai, Los Angeles or Dallas. This not only adds about four hours to the total trip, but also adds a series of uncertainties and "pain points" for passengers, such as connection failures, baggage delays, flight delays, and border inspections.
To solve this problem, Qantas launched a project called "Project Sunrise" with the goal of launching truly non-stop direct flights on ultra-long routes from Sydney and Melbourne to London and New York. For the airline, this project not only focuses on passenger convenience, but also hopes to attract more high-end fare passengers, while reducing its reliance on overseas hubs and other country regulations, airport curfews, time resource constraints and regional geopolitical risks, and promote the replacement of its long-haul fleet.
The Airbus A350-1000ULR is the key model for this project. It has been specially modified for ultra-long-range operations on the basic model of the A350-1000. Compared with the standard version, the A350-1000ULR has a new rear center fuel tank with a capacity of 20,000 liters (approximately 5,283 US gallons) at the rear of the fuselage, which increases the maximum range by approximately 1,000 nautical miles (approximately 1,151 miles, 1,852 kilometers) on the original basis, and the total range reaches 9,700 nautical miles (approximately 11,163 miles, 17,964 kilometers).
In terms of cabin layout, the aircraft is expected to adopt a four-cabin layout, with a regular capacity of about 238 passengers, which is significantly lower than the maximum number of passengers of the same class of wide-body aircraft in a high-density layout, in exchange for more ample seat spacing and rest space to accommodate nearly 22 hours of continuous flight time. In order to meet the special needs of ultra-long-haul operations, the aircraft is also equipped with a lighter galley refrigeration system and uses high-efficiency refrigeration units to reduce odor and energy consumption as much as possible while adapting to long-term on-board catering and service supply.
According to the plan, after completing a series of test flights and certification work, this prototype aircraft will be painted in Qantas livery and officially delivered to the operator. The second aircraft of the same type is expected to be delivered in April 2027. According to the current plan, Qantas plans to eventually deploy a fleet of 12 A350-1000ULRs for use on multiple ultra-long routes under the "Sunrise Plan".
Although technological advancements have made it possible to fly halfway around the world non-stop, for ordinary passengers, spending about 22 consecutive hours in a cabin seat will still be a test. Even if there is only a cabin companion with a deep understanding of air fryers, it may make this journey extra long.