Qantas Project Sunrise goes ahead, 12 new A350-1000s ordered

[Mwenenzi]

Qantas have shared progress images of the first aircraft today - starting to look very complete. Cool to see the red roo on an A350.

QF New Room has the PR media spin which is regurgitated on social media and by bloggers. Very little is "exclusive news"
Published on 7th November 2025 at 6:59.
Link-->QANTAS’ FIRST PROJECT SUNRISE AIRCRAFT TAKES SHAPE IN TOULOUSE

 

[RB001]

Is it an Airbus/Boeing hybrid? It has 707 on the nose.

Yes, an Airbus MSN accidentally paying tribute to Qantas' first (Boeing) jet!

 

[RooFlyer]

And a snippet in The Oz

It’s understood that will involve an extraordinary non-stop flight around the world, starting and ending in Toulouse – a feat that could take more than 40 hours.

The flight is considered an essential part of preparations for 22-hour hops from one side of the globe to another, made possible by an additional 20,000 litre rear centre fuel tank.

Unattributed but in the same article as Qantas briefing on Sunrise and lots of VH quotes.

 

[Saab34]

Well they certainly will over hype this one, it’s a -1000 with an extra tank, it’s not the new space shuttle.

Expect a monthly drip feed until launch to keep the free press going.

 

[NM]

Is it an Airbus/Boeing hybrid? It has 707 on the nose.

Perhaps in reference to the bin# of the wine the pax would like to see on the in-flight menu?

 

[SYD]

Expect a monthly drip feed until launch to keep the free press going.

That’s not a bad thing. Keep them on their toes!

I’m sure there’s a queue to try the F suite on SYD-AKL test runs!

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Does Airbus recycle regos? F-WZNK was the rego for a Delta A350-900 already flying.

They *(the issuing body) would probably issue a VH-9A1 ie a different plane rego identifyer to the first QF a350.

 

[markis10]

They *(the issuing body) would probably issue a VH-9A1 ie a different plane rego identifyer to the first QF a350.

Think you will find the old longreach regos are reserved for a reason VH-OJA etc

 

[Vic]

Is it an Airbus/Boeing hybrid? It has 707 on the nose.

Perhaps in reference to the bin# of the wine the pax would like to see on the in-flight menu?

Or perhaps Airbus just number each aircraft they build with consecutive numbers to help keep track of them and for QC/QA purposes. Boring hey? Nice coincidence however

A total of 1,447 A350 family aircraft have been ordered and 682 delivered, of which 681 aircraft are in service with 38 operators.

Airbus A350 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[justinbrett]

Well they certainly will over hype this one, it’s a -1000 with an extra tank, it’s not the new space shuttle.

Expect a monthly drip feed until launch to keep the free press going.

For a cynic perhaps but for those with any interest in aviation and / or history it’s a pretty momentous occasion to have Sydney and London linked by regular passenger flights. It will become the longest flight in the world.

My grandfather flew for QF (retired as a 707 pilot but also flew the props including Connie) and I grew up listening to his stories, including the 747-400ER delivery flight from LHR non stop to Sydney. I thought that was incredible at the time. They inspired my interest in aviation and was the main reason I joined the RAAF.

To now see it become a reality, it’s pretty special. I think it deserves all the hype it gets. PER/LHR and SIN/JFK both got a lot of hype for their services, and continue to do so. To think our great grandparents spent months on ships to travel between the Uk and Australia, now you can do it on a single flight. I feel sorry for the people who can’t appreciate the significance of that.

 

[Franky]

For a cynic perhaps but for those with any interest in aviation and / or history it’s a pretty momentous occasion to have Sydney and London linked by regular passenger flights. It will become the longest flight in the world.

My grandfather flew for QF (retired as a 707 pilot but also flew the props including Connie) and I grew up listening to his stories, including the 747-400ER delivery flight from LHR non stop to Sydney. I thought that was incredible at the time. They inspired my interest in aviation and was the main reason I joined the RAAF.

To now see it become a reality, it’s pretty special. I think it deserves all the hype it gets. PER/LHR and SIN/JFK both got a lot of hype for their services, and continue to do so. To think our great grandparents spent months on ships to travel between the Uk and Australia, now you can do it on a single flight. I feel sorry for the people who can’t appreciate the significance of that.

That said, I can’t imagine a flight that long would be absolute agony. We always have a break in any long haul flight just to get our and stretch the legs and then continue on….

 

[RSD]

That said, I can’t imagine a flight that long would be absolute agony. We always have a break in any long haul flight just to get our and stretch the legs and then continue on….

I think that everyone is missing the most important point here with the Project Sunrise flights - you will be much better flying SYD-MEL-SIN-LHR on QF instead of Project Sunrise as you will earn far more SC's that way than if you fly SYD-LHR non-stop! Project Sunrise is of no interest to most of us as the SC earn will be terrible!

 

[Vic]

I think that everyone is missing the most important point here with the Project Sunrise flights - you will be much better flying SYD-MEL-SIN-LHR on QF instead of Project Sunrise as you will earn far more SC's that way than if you fly SYD-LHR non-stop! Project Sunrise is of no interest to most of us as the SC earn will be terrible!

it's about the same according to the calculator. 95 SC in economy for SYD-LHR. 95 for MEL-SIN-LHR.
So you get an extra bit for SYD-MEL at a cost of what? 3 hours...

 

[RSD]

it's about the same according to the calculator. 95 SC in economy for SYD-LHR. 95 for MEL-SIN-LHR.
So you get an extra bit for SYD-MEL at a cost of what? 3 hours...

Well I'll be stuffed - I always thought that SYD-LHR earned less SC's as it was QF1 all the way and so thought that MEL-SIN-LHR would earn more!! Ignore my previous then!!

 

[moa999]

always thought that SYD-LHR earned less SC's as it was QF1 all the way

Not since simpler fairer and all the manual city pair tables.
Even under the older distance only table think SYD-LHR didn't matter.

 

[Vic]

Well I'll be stuffed - I always thought that SYD-LHR earned less SC's as it was QF1 all the way and so thought that MEL-SIN-LHR would earn more!! Ignore my previous then!!

Link to earning tables. https://www.qantas.com/au/en/freque...tables/qantas-and-jetstar-earning-tables.html

Interestingly, looks like SYD-PER-LHR/CDG should earn about 100 in economy, and that would be more direct, compared to SYD-MEL-SIN-LHR

 

[justinbrett]

That said, I can’t imagine a flight that long would be absolute agony. We always have a break in any long haul flight just to get our and stretch the legs and then continue on….

The sunrise aircraft will have much better seats in all classes, even in Y there will be more space.

I’m sure our parents lamented the loss of the HNL stop on the way to the US but now it is normal.

 

[jase05]

The sunrise aircraft will have much better seats in all classes, even in Y there will be more space.

I’m sure our parents lamented the loss of the HNL stop on the way to the US but now it is normal.

Yeah, it should be a lot more comfortable for people and will be great for those that want the fastest and most direct route. Personally I have no interest in the Sunrise flights and will most likely never take them but I can see they will be popular

 

[anat0l]

The sunrise aircraft will have much better seats in all classes, even in Y there will be more space.

I’m sure our parents lamented the loss of the HNL stop on the way to the US but now it is normal.

Part of the irony of some of the stops of the days of old was that, on some of them, disembarkation was not required (or didn't happen). I thought I remember taking a TPAC flight on QF one time and we made a stop in NAN, before reaching HNL (before then going onto SFO). I can't remember it specifically being a stop for fuel (but then again I was 10 years old then), but I remember that we didn't disembark.

As the Kangaroo route became a smattering of stops to a few to just one, I wonder how that was accepted by the general public.

Granted, seats were rather comfortable (relatively speaking) then - it's nowhere near a culture of flat bed seats in J or F, of course; makes us today seem rather "soft" compared to those flying then. But they were shorter flights, and then people had to contend that those flights were going to get longer.... much longer.

The extra space is good (in theory), but I think a key element here will be definitely people have to get up and move around and so on, and not just for using the toilet. That's going to take some getting used to as a passenger, and then some for the crew to manage everyone on the aircraft doing it.

I've flown SQ SIN-EWR (this was ages ago when it was operated by a A345), clocking in a flight time of just shy of 19 hours. That was an exhausting flight (in J), so it will be interesting to see if QF's tricks to promote wellbeing will ease things up just a tad or better on a flight a few more hours than that. (Suffice to say, I wonder how well people feel after taking SQ SIN-NYC flights these days, operated with something much more modern than a A345 sporting that not world leading comfortable J seat)

 

[Waddygib]

Part of the irony of some of the stops of the days of old was that, on some of them, disembarkation was not required (or didn't happen). I thought I remember taking a TPAC flight on QF one time and we made a stop in NAN, before reaching HNL (before then going onto SFO). I can't remember it specifically being a stop for fuel (but then again I was 10 years old then), but I remember that we didn't disembark.

As the Kangaroo route became a smattering of stops to a few to just one, I wonder how that was accepted by the general public.

Granted, seats were rather comfortable (relatively speaking) then - it's nowhere near a culture of flat bed seats in J or F, of course; makes us today seem rather "soft" compared to those flying then. But they were shorter flights, and then people had to contend that those flights were going to get longer.... much longer.

The extra space is good (in theory), but I think a key element here will be definitely people have to get up and move around and so on, and not just for using the toilet. That's going to take some getting used to as a passenger, and then some for the crew to manage everyone on the aircraft doing it.

I've flown SQ SIN-EWR (this was ages ago when it was operated by a A345), clocking in a flight time of just shy of 19 hours. That was an exhausting flight (in J), so it will be interesting to see if QF's tricks to promote wellbeing will ease things up just a tad or better on a flight a few more hours than that. (Suffice to say, I wonder how well people feel after taking SQ SIN-NYC flights these days, operated with something much more modern than a A345 sporting that not world leading comfortable J seat)

A big issue: It will be 24 hours (at least) from time you leave home until time you disembark.

That extra few hours will see a sharp rise in the percentage of passengers who need to poop. And hence the amount of time the toilets are occupied.

It will accelerate towards the end of the flight. Last 2 hours there will be massive queues and a lot of people will be left hanging as seatbelt sign goes on for descent.

Anyone sitting within 10 rows of the toilets is going to have people standing next to them for long stretches.

State of toilets will be miserable.