Qantas is preparing for its first nonstop Sydney to London service, scheduled for October 2027, and says it will try to make the nearly day-long journey bearable with a wellness zone, customized lighting, timed meals and other sleep-based measures. Tickets for the Project Sunrise route are due to go on sale in February. The flight is expected to take 19 to 21 hours, depending on weather and routing, cutting about four hours from trips that currently take roughly 24 to 25 hours and usually stop in Singapore.
The airline will use specially modified Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft that can stay airborne for up to 22 hours with only 238 passengers. Qantas has ordered 12 of the jets, with half intended for the Sydney-London and Sydney-New York routes. About a quarter of the flights are expected to use polar routes over the Arctic, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere winter. The project was announced before the coronavirus pandemic but was delayed for years by the aviation crisis and supply-chain problems.
Qantas says it spent years studying sleep, nutrition and health with outside experts. Sleep researcher Prof. Peter Cistulli of the University of Sydney said crossing seven to nine time zones to London, or 14 to 16 to New York, creates a major biological challenge. He said tests showed that meal timing, including avoiding food immediately after takeoff, and lighting that creates a “protected sleep window” improved alertness compared with a normal flight.
Designer David Caon said he was asked to treat the cabin as a health and science project, not just an aesthetic one. Qantas dropped ideas such as exercise bikes and yoga mats, but kept a dedicated wellness area with soft, diffused lighting designed to evoke lying beside a swimming pool. The rest of the cabin will use ambient lighting meant to mimic sunrises and sunsets as passengers move from the front to the rear, with 14 lighting scenarios based on Australian landscapes. In economy, seat pitch will usually be 84 centimeters, though some rows will have 81 centimeters, and an Economy Plus section will offer 86 centimeters. First class will feature enclosed suites with a fixed bed.
Qantas believes passengers will pay about 20 percent more than on connecting flights, similar to the premium it already gets on Perth-London services. Still, passengers who spoke to Reuters said seat comfort and fare will be decisive on a flight lasting almost a full day. The airline says Project Sunrise is a major commercial bet that will require billions of dollars in aircraft, cabin design and research, but could add more than A$400 million a year to profit. The name recalls Qantas’ wartime “Double Sunrise” flights, and after London the company plans a direct Sydney-New York service.
