Airbus enters Guinness World Records with 24-hour nonstop flight
An Airbus A350-1000ULR has secured a Guinness World Record after flying nonstop from Australia to France for 24 hours and 24 minutes, Qazinform News Agency reports.
Airbus announced on Nov. 9 that the aircraft had set the record for the longest flight by distance by a commercial airliner, covering 23,155 kilometers, or about 14,388 miles. The flight took place July 27-28 between Melbourne and Toulouse.
The journey was an Airbus-operated test flight for Qantas’ Project Sunrise, rather than a scheduled passenger service. Thirteen people were on board, including pilots, engineers and a representative of the International Aeronautical Federation.
After departing Melbourne, the aircraft flew over Sydney before crossing the Pacific toward Los Angeles. It continued across North America and the Atlantic, passing over London before landing in Toulouse. Along the way, the crew witnessed two sunsets and two sunrises.
According to Flightradar24, which helped independently validate the flight data, the journey attracted more than 3.6 million flight trackings. It became the platform’s second most tracked flight, behind the final flight carrying Queen Elizabeth II.
The A350-1000ULR features an additional fuel tank that extends its range by 1,000 nautical miles. Qantas has ordered 12 of the aircraft for Project Sunrise, which will introduce nonstop services connecting Sydney with London and New York. The first delivery is scheduled for April 2027, with the Sydney-London service expected to begin in October that year.
Earlier, Qazinform reported that Air Astana plans to launch direct flights between Almaty and Tokyo on Nov. 30, 2026. The service will operate twice a week using Airbus A321LR aircraft.
