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

[transpactraveller]

Yeah unless there's been a secret change, they've always said the first route would be Sydney-London

 

[Mwenenzi]

QF newsroom 03 Jun 2026 -- QANTAS' PROJECT SUNRISE A350-1000ULR COMPLETES MAIDEN TEST FLIGHT

<snip>
Qantas will announce the first Project Sunrise route and timing of its inaugural commercial services later this month.

 

[Doctore1003]

Would love to be in F on the inaugural flight

 

[SYD]

Would love to be in F on the inaugural flight

Keep an eye out for SYD-AKL or whatever the first revenue flight ends up being. Maybe even a couple of SYD<->MEL hops if we’re lucky.

 

[mviy]

Would love to get a J/F classic reward return to LHR on Sunrise.

 

[LionKing]

Keep an eye out for SYD-AKL or whatever the first revenue flight ends up being. Maybe even a couple of SYD<->MEL hops if we’re lucky.

I hope it will be SYD-AKL-MEL-AKL-SYD routing, which I think eventually Sunrise aircraft need to test the gates and ground handling at MEL if they wanted to do MEL-LON.

 

[Aeryn]

Yeah unless there's been a secret change, they've always said the first route would be Sydney-London

I always thought it was SYD-LHR and SYD-JFK at same time.

Maybe even a couple of SYD<->MEL hops if we’re lucky.

Yeah the A380 and B789s did quite a few SYD-MEL training runs before going long haul. Got a couple of J and PE upgrades MEL-SYD when our 737 was swapped to 789 and flights consolidated for the training.

Id also expect to see them swap out an A380/B789 on SYD-AKL-JFK or SYD-SIN-LHR before trying the full non stop.

As much as id love a classic award on these inaugural or early direct flights somehow i doubt there will be any unless P1.

 

[SYD]

As much as id love a classic award on these inaugural or early direct flights somehow i doubt there will be any unless P1.

But they usually sell those domestic hops (and TT) for the same price. There’s just the risk that you buy a ticket and the aircraft gets swapped out at short notice.

However, if it flies on the trip you book, there’s potential that they only sell J and whY, so hopefully P1/WP get free access to F seats (if booked in J) and PE seats (if booked in whY)!

 

[Aeryn]

But they usually sell those domestic hops (and TT) for the same price. There’s just the risk that you buy a ticket and the aircraft gets swapped out at short notice.

Yep thats a bonus and something id expect.

But i meant once they run the actual inauguaral non stops and for a few months thereafter i doubt there will be classic J and F available unless you are a P1.

 

[SYD]

Yeah unless there's been a secret change, they've always said the first route would be Sydney-London

SMH/The Age reporting:

“speculation that Sydney to New York may be the first route announced”​

​

Which could be due to the ME situation and SYD-JFK being a more reliable route to bed down the ops?