The Airbus A350-1000ULR has officially set a new record for the longest nonstop flight by a commercial airliner, surpassing a record held by the Boeing 777-200LR for 21 years. Guinness World Records has confirmed the achievement, announced by Airbus.
The aircraft covered an extraordinary 14,388 miles (12,503 nautical miles) on a nonstop flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Toulouse, France. It departed Melbourne at 5:27 PM on July 27 and landed in Toulouse at 9:51 AM the following day, after spending 24 hours and 24 minutes in the air.
The previous record was set by a Boeing 777-200LR in November 2005, when it flew approximately 13,423 miles from Hong Kong to London in 22 hours and 42 minutes. The A350-1000ULR travelled around 965 miles farther and remained airborne 1 hour and 42 minutes longer.
A total of 13 people were onboard, including Airbus test pilots, Qantas captains, engineers and a representative of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). The flight data was independently verified by the FAI and Flightradar24. Those onboard experienced two sunsets and two sunrises during the journey.
The aircraft features an additional fuel tank with approximately 20,000 litres of capacity, providing around 1,150 miles of additional range. It is designed for Qantas’ Project Sunrise, which aims to introduce nonstop flights from Sydney to London and New York, with journey times of up to 22 hours. Qantas has ordered 12 aircraft, with the first delivery expected next April.