Perth, Sept 23: Australians will soon be able to fly from Sydney to New York without a single stop. Qantas has confirmed that non-stop flights between the two cities will launch in mid-2028, a first for commercial aviation.
Tickets go on sale in August 2027. The route is the second to be confirmed under Qantas’ Project Sunrise, following Sydney to London, which takes off in October 2027.
The journey will take around 18 hours, more than three hours faster than today’s quickest option. Qantas currently runs a daily Sydney–New York service with a stop in Auckland.
The plane built for the distance
The flights will use a specially modified Airbus A350-1000ULR fitted with an extra 20,000-litre fuel tank. That gives it a range of more than 16,000 kilometres and the ability to stay airborne for up to 22 hours.
Qantas has ordered 12 of the aircraft, each with 238 seats across four cabins. A test aircraft recently set a record for a commercial airliner, flying non-stop from Melbourne to Toulouse in 24 hours and 24 minutes. The first plane is due to be delivered in April 2027.
Built around jet lag
Qantas says it spent a decade working with experts to design the cabin around the science of ultra long-haul travel, including lighting, menus and what it calls a world-first Wellbeing Zone where passengers can stretch and move.
“Flying these distances is only worth doing if our customers arrive feeling their best,” said Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson. “This is a fundamentally different way to fly.”
Hudson described the New York route as a defining moment for both countries. “Reaching New York non-stop completes a vision we set out many years ago,” she said.
Demand is climbing
The airline says demand for its New York flights has nearly doubled since 2023, and US visitor arrivals to Australia are up five per cent year on year. Its own research shows intent to book ultra long-haul non-stop flights has risen from 58 to 70 per cent this year, hitting 80 per cent among premium travellers.
Qantas has already carried nearly two million passengers on its existing non-stop long-haul routes since 2018, including Perth to London, Rome and Paris, Melbourne to Dallas, and Auckland to New York. The airline says these routes score highest for customer satisfaction across its international network.
Qantas has a long history with New York. It first flew there in 1958 on its inaugural round-the-world service, stopping in Fiji, Honolulu and San Francisco along the way.
Pilot training is already underway on Australia’s first A350 simulator in Sydney. More than 360 pilots and 1,200 cabin crew will be trained to fly the Project Sunrise fleet.
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