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There’s a lot you can accomplish in 18 hours: binge the entire first season of The White Lotus twice, listen to Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour setlist five times, or scroll through TikTok until your battery dies. Or, if you’re up for the ultimate test in multitasking, you could do all three while flying directly from Australia to New York.
Qantas has just announced the launch date for its first-ever non-stop commercial flight between Sydney and the Big Apple, clocking in at roughly 18 hours. Set to take off in mid-2028, the history-making flight will cut more than three hours off travel times compared to the current one-stop service via Auckland – meaning you can swap Harbour views for Times Square without a layover.
New York is the second Project Sunrise route to be locked in, following Qantas’ non-stop Sydney to London service that will launch in October 2027. Both routes will be operated by a fleet of 12 new Airbus A350-1000ULR (Ultra Long Range) aircraft fitted with an additional 20,000-litre fuel tank that allows them to fly up to 22 hours non-stop. To keep things comfortable, the cabin is capped at just 238 seats and features the world's first in-flight 'wellness zones’ for stretching and refreshments.
The first test aircraft recently completed a record-breaking non-stop 24-hour and 24-minute flight from Melbourne to Toulouse, with official delivery of the finished aircraft to Qantas expected in April 2027.
Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson says, “Conquering the tyranny of distance has been part of who Qantas is from the very beginning. Reaching New York non-stop completes a vision we set out many years ago, and it's a moment of enormous pride for the thousands of our people who have been working hard to make Project Sunrise a reality.”
Demand for Qantas flights to and from the United States has nearly doubled since 2023, with tickets for the inaugural Sydney to New York service going on sale in August 2027. Stay tuned!