Qantas’ Longest Flights In 2026: Inside Australia’s Ultra-Long-Haul Network

Aaron is an aviation enthusiast and world traveler with a deep interest in aerospace history and technology. He has traveled around the world numerous times, often incorporating visits to aviation museums and historic aircraft collections into his journeys. A native of New Zealand, he is an expert in aviation and maintains a broad interest in a variety of other subjects.

Qantas is the flag carrier of Australia, and it dominates the long-haul market, partly due to its chief rival, Virgin Australia, being heavily restricted when competing on international routes. New Zealand and Australia feature prominently on lists of the world's longest flights.

This is due not only to their geographic isolation, but also their cultural and demographic links with Europe and North America. Qantas operates several of the world's longest regularly scheduled nonstop flights, and is gearing up to operate the longest flights in 2027. Even before Qantas sets new records with its incoming Airbus A350-1000ULR airliners intended to unlock new routes, the airline already operates some of the world's longest flights.

This includes the world's third-longest flights (after Singapore's twin flights to JFK and Newark). It also operates the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh (shared with Air New Zealand), 12th, 18th, and 20th longest flights. Let's examine Qantas' ultra-long-haul network in 2026 and its Project Sunrise plans.

Qantas' Widebody Fleet

The Qantas Group operates a total of around 396 aircraft, of which many are operated by its QantasLink and Jetstar subsidiaries. According to Planespotters.net, its mainline fleet is composed of 137 aircraft, over half (78) of which are Boeing 737 narrowbody aircraft. Its widebody fleet is made up of 28 legacy A330 airliners (15 A330-200s and 13 A330-300s), ten A380s, and 14 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

Its low-cost subsidiary, Jetstar, contributes another 11 Boeing 787-8 widebodies. The Boeing 787-8's range is shorter than its stretched 787-9 counterpart, which is designed for a different segment of the market. Jetstar does operate them on long-haul routes to Japan, South Korea, and other places in Asia.

However, none of these routes are enough to be included in a discussion of Qantas' ultra-long-haul flagship routes. Qantas is ordering another four 787-9s and eight 787-10s. Importantly, it has a total of 24 Airbus A350-1000s on order, of which 12 are custom-modified A350-1000ULRs specifically designed for Qantas' Project Sunrise to service ultra-long routes.

Currently, the Boeing 787-9 fleet is the workhorse for ultra-long flights, although the A380s are also used on some ultra-long routes. Qantas has said it will start retiring its A380 Superjumbos from 2028 as replacement A350-1000s enter service.

Australia's Range Problem

One issue for Qantas is that Australia is just so far away from Europe and the United States. Another issue for Europe-bound flights is that the major population centers, including Sydney and Melbourne, are located on the southeastern part of the Australian continent. Regular 787 and other widebody aircraft can fly nonstop from the Australian East Coast to the US and Canadian West Coast and as far as Texas.

However, reaching New York on the US East Coast is a step too far. Qantas does operate flights from Sydney to New York JFK using its 787-9s, but this is a fifth-freedom flight with a stopover in Auckland, New Zealand. Western Australia, centered on Perth, is only home to around 10% of the Australian population.

Furthermore, it is the only significant population center within nonstop range of London Heathrow with Boeing 787-9s. Sydney to London flights are operated with A380s, and these are also fifth-freedom flights that include a stopover in Singapore.

The incoming Airbus A350-1000ULRs are specifically intended to fly direct from Sydney to London and Sydney to New York, cutting out Singapore and Auckland. Notably, the distance (7,829 nautical miles) from Perth to London is longer than the previously advertised range for the 787-9 (7,635 nautical miles), although Boeing has since increased the advertised range of its widebody aircraft.

Qantas' Longest Flights In 2026

The longest nonstop Qantas flight in 2026 is the route from Perth to London (flights QF9 and QF10). The outbound distance is 7,830 nautical miles (scheduled 17 hours and 30 minutes), and the return distance is 7,879 nautical miles (scheduled 16 hours and 50 minutes). In June 2026, Qantas reintroduced stopovers on its return flights from Perth to London in Singapore.

However, the outbound flight remains nonstop. Ultra-long-haul routes from Perth are with 787-9s. Almost identical is the Melbourne to Dallas/Fort Worth route (flights QF21 and QF22), whose distance is 7,862 nautical miles. The outbound duration is 16 hours and 10 minutes, while the return duration is 17 hours and 40 minutes.

Qantas' Perth to Paris route is a little shorter than the London route at 7,748 nautical miles (17 hours and 10 minutes outbound). The route from Auckland to New York also pushes the range of the 787-9. This is a distance of around 7,675 nautical miles with an outbound time of 15 hours and 55 minutes and a return duration of 17 hours and 40 minutes.

It's worth noting that Qantas competes with Air New Zealand and its fleet of 787-9s on the Auckland to New York route. The Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth route spans 7,497 nautical miles (outbound 15 hours and 30 minutes). Another European route from Perth is to Rome and is 7,256 nautical miles (16 hours and 40 minutes outbound).

Why There Are Outbound & Return Differences

The outbound and return distances are generally very close, although there can be variation as the scheduled distance may not be the same as the great-circle distance with route-planning. The June 2026 changes to the Perth-London route were influenced by the disruptions in the Middle Eastern airspace, which forced aircraft to fly longer routings between Europe and Australia.

This pushed the 787-9, already operating close to its maximum margin, beyond its practical operating range when carrying a full commercial payload. For Qantas, eastbound Pacific routes (such as from Australia to the US) benefit from strong tailwinds, making outbound legs significantly faster than return legs.

Conversely, there is a penalty for airliners returning westbound across the Pacific. The return sector (New York to Auckland) is 1 hour and 15 minutes longer than the outbound sector. Westbound Indian Ocean/Europe (such as from Australia to the UK/Europe) flights fight head/crosswinds, making outbound legs longer than the eastbound return legs.

Still, Australia's stopovers in places like Singapore and Auckland are mostly vestiges of what it once had to do. Previously, many transpacific flights to Australia and New Zealand to and from the United States had to stop over in American Samoa. Today, American Samoa's Pago Pago Airport is largely forgotten.

Long-Haul Flights To All Continents

Most of Qantas' international flights are to its near abroad, including New Zealand, various Pacific islands, and Southeast Asia. Many of these routes can be served by narrowbody airliners and by its A330s. Qantas operates flights to all of the world's continents. It has a single flight to South America that travels to Santiago in Chile.

It also has a single African connection to Johannesburg in South Africa. These are both from Sydney. To Europe, its three destinations are London, Paris, and Rome (seasonal). As stated, nonstop European flights are all from Perth. In North America, it flies to New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Canada's Vancouver.

Outside of Southeast Asia, Asian destinations include Bangalore in India, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, with seasonal flights to Japan's Sapporo. Ultra-long flights depart from Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, but not Adelaide or airports in Tasmania.

When it is said that Qantas has flights to all over the world's continents, that also includes Antarctica (sort of). Qantas offers seasonal sightseeing flights from its main population centers to Antarctica using its 787-9s. These flights do not land on the frozen continent, but rather return to their airport of departure. For the 2025/2026 season, Qantas flew seven Antarctic flights.

Onto New Nonstop Records

Qantas says that "in 2017, we announced plans to take on the final frontier of aviation: direct flights from the East Coast of Australia to London and New York. We codenamed this 'Project Sunrise'." It selected the A350-1000ULR in 2022, and the first of these is being built now by Airbus. The first example, called Vega, is set to be delivered to Qantas in April 2027.

The first daily nonstop flights between Sydney and London are expected to launch in October 2027, followed by flights from Sydney to New York in mid-2028. Project Sunrise will set new records for the longest scheduled nonstop passenger flight by both distance and duration. The Sydney to London route is expected to be around 9,200 nautical miles and take 20–22 hours.

The later Sydney to New York route will not break records, as it will have a great-circle distance of around 8,650 nautical miles and around 18 hours in flight duration. This means the Sydney to London route will remain the longest. Currently, the longest-range scheduled flight is Singapore Airlines' route to New York using modified Airbus A350-900ULRs.

The distance is around 8,300 nautical miles, and the duration is around 18 hours and 30 minutes. This distance is so great that Singapore actually offers flights to New York in both directions around the world. Instead of flying east directly to New York, passengers can book westbound flights stopping over in Frankfurt along the way. These fares are longer, but also cheaper.