24 hours non-stop: the longest flight in history lands successfully

Would you get on a plane for 24 hours? In a few months, this will be a new reality for passengers who want to travel to or from Australia. A Qantas Airways plane landed this Tuesday in Toulouse, France, after completing the first non-stop flight from Melbourne, Australia. It took exactly 24 hours and 24 minutes, and became the longest flight in history after covering a total distance of 23,075 kilometers. With this milestone, Qantas has managed to set a new record in the airline industry.

On its journey from Australia to France, the plane flew over three continents and two oceans, and saw two sunsets and two sunrises. As detailed by the company on social media, the plane departed from the city of Melbourne heading northeast, flying over the Pacific, the United States, and Canada, and then crossed the Atlantic to fly over the United Kingdom before arriving in Toulouse, France.

The Qantas flight is part of a test campaign for Project Sunrise. The aircraft model used, the Airbus A350-1000 ULR (Ultra Long Range), has been specifically designed by Qantas with the aim of operating direct flights between Sydney and London, a route they hope to have operational from October 2027.

The test marks a key step in Qantas's initiative, which aims to operate the world's longest commercial flights and reshape long-haul travel by eliminating layovers between Australia and Europe. The new non-stop flights will reduce travel time by up to four hours compared to the airline's current services with a layover.

This new historic milestone has been followed with great anticipation. The flight tracking company Flightradar24 explained that Qantas's flight from Melbourne to Toulouse was the second most followed in history through its channels, after the flight that in 2022 transported Queen Elizabeth II's coffin from Edinburgh to London, a flight that was followed by more than 3.6 million people.