Inside Qantas’ plan to turn Australia’s tyranny of distance into profit

June 22, 2026 — 5:00am

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Australians have long struggled with geographic isolation but national carrier Qantas is close to overcoming the country’s “tyranny of distance” and reaping profits for years to come from ultra-long flights travelling from Sydney to London or New York.

For the airline’s Project Sunrise solution to work, both customer demand and aircraft supply must keep pace.

Qantas expects its long-haul operation to be fully up and running within 2½ years and is forecasting earnings of $400 million annually from a fleet of 12, specially adapted Airbus A350-1000 ULR’s flying from Sydney to London and New York, its CEO Vanessa Hudson says.

The ambitious program is not simply about rolling out a fleet of 12 ultra-long-haul jets which can fly more than 18,000 kilometres, but it’s also taking advantage of Australia’s unique geography which for a long time has been a stumbling block for air carriers.

Qantas shows off its first ultra-long-haul plane

Given the distance and range, planes departing Sydney can fly east or west to arrive at their destinations, a flexibility that takes advantage of seasonal wind patterns that is not available for mid-point carriers in Europe or the United States.

“We look around the world and ask who would be the other carriers that would have the business case for the 12 aircraft. And we can’t see many,” Hudson told a group of journalists invited by the airline to the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France.

Nothing about the recent disruptions in aviation stemming from the conflict in the Middle East changes that.

It has been a long journey for Qantas and partner Airbus to get to see the first fully produced A350-1000 ULR now eight weeks into testing and certification. Another has rolled off the assembly line but still needs........

© The Age