Airbus A350-1000ULR Breaks Guinness World Record with 14,388-Mile Nonstop Flight

The Airbus A350-1000ULR has officially broken the Guinness World Record for the longest flight by a commercial airliner. Operating as AIB35LR, the test aircraft departed Melbourne at 5:27 p.m. local time on July 27 and landed in Toulouse at 9:51 a.m. local time on July 28, covering 12,503 nautical miles (23,155 kilometres) in 24 hours and 24 minutes. Just 13 people were on board, including three Airbus test pilots, two Qantas pilots, engineers and a representative of the International Aeronautical Federation. The routing crossed Sydney, the Pacific, North America and the Atlantic, spanning three continents and two oceans, with those on board witnessing two sunsets and two sunrises.

The mission was part of the flight test campaign for the A350-1000ULR, developed for Qantas Airways under Project Sunrise. Airbus had to operate one sector with a block time of 23 hours, from push-back to chocks-on, to simulate the longest commercial operations the aircraft will fly. Airbus Commercial Aircraft chief executive Lars Wagner said: "Flying 12,503 nautical miles non-stop, we have fully proven the aircraft's capability to fulfill its mission. And the world record was the icing on the cake!" An additional rear centre tank extends the aircraft's range by 1,000 nautical miles, enabling Qantas to operate nonstop flights between Sydney and London and New York for the first time, over distances of almost 10,000 nautical miles with flight times of up to 22 hours.

The new record replaces one held for more than two decades by Boeing's 777-200LR. On November 9, 2005, the blue-and-white 777-200LR demonstrator nicknamed Baby Blue 2 departed Hong Kong and flew east across the Pacific and North America to London, covering 13,423 miles (21,601 kilometres) in 22 hours and 42 minutes. Qantas has ordered 12 A350-1000ULRs, with the first aircraft scheduled for delivery in April 2027 and Sydney-London nonstop services launching in October 2027 as QF1 and QF2. Sydney-New York nonstop flights are expected to follow in mid-2028 with a flight time of about 18 hours; each aircraft will have 238 seats, including 98 premium seats and a dedicated Wellbeing Zone.