An Airbus A350-1000ULR flew nonstop from Melbourne to Toulouse in 24 hours and 24 minutes, setting a new world record for distance flown.

The aircraft covered 23,075.92 kilometres without landing once, breaking a mark that had stood since 2005.

The plane, registered F-WULR, took off from Melbourne at 17:27 pm local time on July 27 and touched down in Toulouse the next morning at around 9:52 am local time.

Along the way it crossed three continents, two oceans and 17 time zones, tracking a route that took it up over the Pacific, across the US and Canada, before heading over the Atlantic into France.

In 2005, a Boeing 777-200LR set the previous record by traveling 21,601.7 km from Hong Kong to London in 22 hours and 42 minutes. That was surpassed by this unprecedented flight by almost 1,400 kilometers.

This wasn’t a one off stunt. It’s part of a two month flight test campaign Airbus has been running since June to certify the aircraft ahead of delivery to Qantas.

The A350-1000ULR is built specifically for Qantas’s Project Sunrise, which aims to run nonstop flights connecting Australia directly to cities like London and New York, something no airline currently offers on a commercial basis. Twelve of these aircraft have been ordered by Qantas.

Each one carries 20,000 litres of extra fuel compared to the standard A350 and seats just 238 passengers across six first class suites, 52 business class seats, 40 premium economy and 140 economy seats, a much lower density than a typical long haul jet.

The first aircraft is due for delivery in April 2027, with daily nonstop Sydney to London flights expected to begin that October. Tickets for those routes should go on sale in early 2027. The flight also drew a massive online audience.

According to Flightradar24, more than 3.6 million people tracked it live, making it the second most followed flight in the platform’s history, behind only the 2024 flight carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin.

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