Toulouse-built Airbus A350 completes Qantas test flight

A newly built Airbus A350-1000ULR touched down in Melbourne on Friday after a nonstop, 19-hour journey from the manufacturer’s Toulouse facility. The almost 17,000km flight marked the first time the ultra long-range aircraft landed on Australian soil.

The jet is the first of its specific model to take to the skies, having completed an initial three-hour and 43-minute test flight over France and the Atlantic coast in June. It carries an extra 20,000-litre fuel tank, enabling it to cover almost 10,000 nautical miles. Qantas is purchasing 12 of the aircraft, opting for a reduced configuration of 238 seats rather than the standard 300-plus layout to prioritize range over passenger volume.

For Airbus, the successful long-distance test is a critical step in fulfilling a flagship order for its most specialized commercial variant. The A350-1000ULR represents a significant technological export for European manufacturing. Public interest in the aircraft's capabilities remains high, with more than 67,000 people tracking the test flight on air traffic monitoring websites, making it the most-watched flight globally on Friday.

However, the execution of this European export has faced commercial headwinds. The jets are intended for Qantas’s Project Sunrise, a plan for nonstop services between Sydney and London that has been delayed multiple times. In November 2025, Qantas stated the service would start in the first half of 2027, with Airbus set to deliver the first aircraft by late 2026. By June, Airbus revealed the delivery would not happen until April 2027, pushing the route's launch back further to October 2027.

The current test aircraft, which wears a tan exterior with Qantas branding on its wingtips rather than the airline's official livery, will return to Toulouse on Monday. Four Airbus flight test pilots and five flight test engineers operated the outbound journey, with two Qantas pilots joining the return.

Qantas’s chief technical pilot, Alex Passerini, told Channel Seven the 23-hour return flight would rigorously test systems ranging from fuel transfer to air conditioning. “Everyone’s going to get tired,” Passerini said, noting that crews would rely on data-driven systems to manage regular rest breaks. The first A350-1000ULR to feature Qantas’s official red and white livery, named Vega, is still on the Toulouse assembly line.