Qantas targets mid-2027 for ultra-long-haul Project Sunrise flights
March 25, 2025
Qantas is aiming to initiate the full-scale launch its highly anticipated ultra-long-haul flights under Project Sunrise by the northern summer of 2027, according to Scott Zeglin, Head of Commercial Strategy & Performance at Qantas Group.
Speaking at Routes Asia 2025 in Perth, Zeglin outlined the airline’s preparation timeline as it awaits new aircraft deliveries.
The first of 12 A350-1000ULRs is scheduled to be delivered from the second half of calendar year 2026. In addition, Qantas will be receiving 12 A350-1000LRs from FY28.,
“We’ll have a number of training sectors and crew familiarisations … as we wait for the additional deliveries to come through,” he said.
“But I think that’s where we’ve got to … northern summer of 2027 is what we’re kind of targeting. That’s when we want to be able to start doing some of these really long-haul opportunities that we’ve talked about.”
Prior to Zeglin’s comments, industry observers had anticipated the Project Sunrise flights to commence in either late 2026 or early 2027. But Zeglin said the summer of 2027 in the northern hemisphere was the most realistic timeframe, allowing for delivery of the aircraft and operational and crew testing once those airframes had arrived.
Project Sunrise is Qantas’ plan to operate non-stop flights from the east coast of Australia to destinations such as London and New York, cutting hours off traditional routes with stopovers.
The airline has ordered Airbus A350-1000 aircraft specially configured for the mission, though supply chain delays have impacted delivery timelines.
