One night and two sunrises: The expected change in the world's longest flights

Australian airline Qantas is advancing 'Project Sunrise' to connect Australia's east coast with London and New York on a direct flight lasting 19 to 22 hours. The project, using the Airbus A350-1000ULR, is named after secret World War II flights where passengers witnessed two sunrises on a single journey.

Australian airline Qantas is currently advancing 'Project Sunrise', the most ambitious project in the history of commercial aviation. The project aims to connect Australia's east coast (Sydney and Melbourne) with London and the east coast of the United States (New York) via a direct flight. The estimated flight time is 19 to 22 hours non-stop, using the Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft currently undergoing testing. A test flight from Melbourne to Toulouse lasted 24 hours and 24 minutes. The project is named after a secret flight route operated by Qantas in cooperation with the British and Australian governments during World War II, known as 'The Double Sunrise Flight'. These historic flights operated between 1943 and 1945, connecting Australia and Britain after the Japanese conquest of Southeast Asia. The aircraft flew from Perth to Koggala in Sri Lanka, a distance of about 6,480 kilometers over open water, without modern radar and in radio silence. The flight duration was 27 to 33 hours, and passengers witnessed two different sunrises. The article also reviews the development of air routes from Australia to London, from four-day flights with six stops to today's direct flights.