Nonstop 24-Hour Journey from Australia to France Officially Declared World’s Longest Ever Commercial Flight

NEED TO KNOW

• Quantas' Airbus A350-1000ULR traveled 12,503 nautical miles from Melbourne to Toulouse in 24 hours and 24 minutes between July 27 and July 28 this year, setting a new Guinness World Record

• Thirteen people were aboard the flight, including Airbus and Qantas pilots, engineers, and an International Aeronautical Federation representative

• The aircraft flew over three continents and two oceans on the trip and saw two sunrises and two sunsets

A flight from Australia to France has broken a Guinness World Record and officially been declared the world's longest ever commercial flight.

The Airbus A350-1000ULR departed from Melbourne on Monday, July 27, at 5:27 p.m. local time and landed in Toulouse on Tuesday, July 28, at 9:51 a.m., covering a distance of 12,503 nautical miles, according to a press release .

The flight, which took 24 hours and 24 minutes, officially broke the Guinness World Record for the longest flight by distance by a commercial airliner. The record was based on data independently validated by live flight tracker Flightradar24 and the International Aeronautical Federation.

The aircraft flew over three continents and two oceans on the trip, with the crew witnessing two sunsets and two sunrises.

A total of 13 people were on board during the flight, including a flight crew of three Airbus flight test pilots, two pilots from Qantas, five Airbus flight test engineers, two Airbus design engineers and a representative of the International Aeronautical Federation, per the release.

After taking off from Melbourne, the plane flew over Sydney and headed out towards Los Angeles, crossing the International Date Line, before traveling over North America and the Atlantic.

It then flew over the U.K. before eventually landing in Toulouse, France.

The A350-1000ULR means that Qantas Airways will now be able to operate non-stop flights between Sydney and London and New York for the first time.

The first plane has been scheduled for delivery in April 2027 and will start operating the Sydney to London route in late 2027.

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"Flying 12,503 nautical miles non-stop, we have fully proven the aircraft's capability to fulfill its mission. And the world record was the icing on the cake," Lars Wagner, Chief Executive Officer Commercial Aircraft at Airbus, said in the release.

The Airbus A350-1000ULR was the second most-tracked flight of all time on Flightradar24, with the first being the plane carrying Queen Elizabeth II's coffin from Edinburgh to London in 2022, according to a release .

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