Short cuts: Qantas unveils cabins for world’s longest flights

Sydney Qantas has revealed designs of first- and business-class cabins for its “Project Sunrise” — direct services from Sydney to New York and London that will be the world’s longest non-stop flights.

The airline announced its plans for the flights in 2017. They were put on hold in 2020 in response to the pandemic, but in May 2022 Qantas confirmed its order for 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to operate the route, with chief executive Alan Joyce calling the plan “the final fix for the tyranny of distance that has traditionally challenged travel to Australia”. The first flights are now scheduled for late 2025.

The services, due to take between 19 and 20 hours, will carry a maximum of 238 passengers, rather than the 300-plus that is typical for the aircraft type. Qantas’s A350-1000s will have 52 seats in business class, six in first, 40 in premium economy and just 140 in economy. The first-class “suites” have been designed like “a mini boutique hotel room”, says the airline, and will feature a fixed bed besides a separate reclining chair, a wardrobe, 32in television and dining table for two.

Business seats will have a two-metre-long flat bed, leather ottoman and dining table, and there will be free WiFi throughout the plane. Details of a “wellbeing zone” for all passengers have yet to be announced, but on a trial flight from New York to Sydney carried out on a Boeing 787-9 in 2019, passengers were encouraged to do onboard exercises — including dancing the Macarena.

At about 11,000 miles for the Sydney-London flight, and 10,000 miles for Sydney-New York, the routes will pip the current longest flights: Singapore Airlines’ service between New York and Singapore (at about 9,500 miles and just under 19 hours) and Qantas’s own Perth to London flights (about 9,000 miles and 17 and a half hours). Conscious of potential criticism about the environmental impact of the services — ultra-long-haul flights are less efficient because they must carry extra fuel for the later stages — Qantas has pledged to offset the carbon emissions for all passengers.

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