Qantas Delays Sydney-London Nonstop Launch to October 2027 as Airbus A350 Delivery Slips
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 19
Qantas Delays Sydney-London Nonstop Launch to October 2027 as Airbus A350 Delivery Slips
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 19
Summary
October 2027 is Qantas’s new target for nonstop Sydney-London flights, a fresh delay from the first half of 2027 after Airbus pushed the first A350-1000ULR delivery to April 2027.
12 specially configured A350-1000ULRs underpin Project Sunrise, with each 238-seat jet built for 16,000 km and about 22 hours nonstop using an extra 20,000-litre fuel tank.
Sydney appears to be the clear priority: Qantas’s latest update dropped earlier references to direct London flights from Melbourne and Brisbane, while executives said future routes would be adjusted to customer demand.
12,000 passengers flew weekly between Sydney and London in 2025, versus 7,500 from Melbourne and 5,300 from Brisbane, helping explain the narrower initial rollout after a project first announced in 2017 and repeatedly delayed since Covid.