Qantas is building a specially modified Airbus A350 under Project Sunrise that can fly non-stop for up to 22 hours, opening direct routes from Australia to both New York and London.

The key modification is a 20,000-litre additional fuel tank mounted in the rear of the fuselage, according to Qantas. This extra tank boosts the aircraft's total fuel capacity well beyond the standard A350-1000 configuration and extends its range beyond what any other scheduled commercial widebody — a large, wide-cabin passenger jet — can currently cover in regular service. The standard A350-1000 holds roughly 158,000 litres of usable fuel; the additional tank represents a significant percentage increase, and it's the structural foundation of the entire programme.

These routes sit at the extreme limit of commercial aviation. Sydney to London Heathrow spans approximately 17,000 kilometres in a straight line; Sydney to New York runs around 16,200 kilometres across the Pacific. Eastbound Pacific flights face stronger headwinds than westbound ones, which eats into effective range. A 22-hour endurance window gives Qantas a meaningful safety margin, especially on sectors where headwinds cut into the aircraft's reach.

Qantas already operates what it describes as ultra-long-haul flights, including Perth to London at over 16 hours. Project Sunrise is a different order of operation — not just longer, but a category that demands exceptional planning around crew fatigue, passenger wellbeing research, and aircraft reliability over extended hours aloft. The airline has studied how jetlag and cabin conditions affect passengers since early trial flights in 2019, findings that shape how the A350's cabin will be laid out.

The A350 is the right platform for this. Airbus's composite-heavy widebody has among the lowest fuel burn rates per passenger-kilometre in its class, and the -1000 variant's maximum take-off weight gives engineers more structural margin to accommodate the extra fuel without exceeding design limits. Adding a dedicated rear tank rather than expanding existing tanks is a proven technique for ultra-long-range aircraft — Airbus used a similar approach on the A340-500HGW that Singapore Airlines and Emirates relied on for their own ultra-long-haul flying two decades ago.

The commercial case is worth examining closely. An aircraft burning fuel for 22 hours carries fewer passengers and less cargo than a standard long-haul jet on shorter routes. This drives up the cost per available seat-kilometre, which means these flights need to command premium fares to work economically. Qantas is banking on business travellers and premium economy passengers who value avoiding a connection enough to pay the premium. That's plausible but narrow — and it depends on one-stop alternatives via Dubai, Singapore, or Doha remaining unattractive enough on time or convenience grounds to justify the higher ticket price.

Qantas has not disclosed an entry-into-service date or confirmed aircraft delivery timelines in publicly available sourced material. Aircraft programmes in commercial aviation routinely slip, and a heavily modified variant like the Project Sunrise A350 — with bespoke fuel engineering, novel cabin layouts, and extended certification requirements — carries more schedule risk than a standard aircraft order.

What Qantas has established, technically, is a credible path to non-stop flying between Australia's east coast and two of the planet's highest-value long-haul markets. Whether the economics hold at scale is a separate question — load factors and revenue data from the first years of operation will answer that far more clearly than any forecast made today.