A special Qantas aeroplane flew non-stop for more than 24 hours as it travelled from Melbourne, Australia, all the way to France. The record-breaking journey covered 23,075 kilometres and was watched online by more than 3.6 million people around the world. The plane, called an Airbus A350-1000ULR, landed safely at the Airbus factory in Toulouse after its long test flight.
The aircraft was one of 12 being built for Qantas as part of a project called Project Sunrise. These special planes carried extra fuel tanks so they could fly further than normal aeroplanes without needing to stop and refuel. Once the project was finished, the planes were expected to fly non-stop between Sydney and London, making it the longest passenger flight route in the world.
The test flight beat an older record set back in 2005, when a different aeroplane flew 21,601.7 kilometres from Hong Kong to London. Each new Qantas plane could carry 238 passengers and hold 20,000 litres of fuel, enough to keep it flying for around 20 hours at a time.
The first of the new planes was due to be delivered in April 2027. Qantas hoped to begin daily non-stop flights between Sydney and London from October 2027, turning a trip that once took five days into a single flight lasting under a day.
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