ZAP // Airbus; Flight Routes
If you’ve ever dreamed of spending 22 hours on a non-stop flight, there’s good news: Airbus announced the inaugural flight of the commercial plane with the longest range in the world, the Airbus A350-1000ULR, with a range of almost 10 thousand nautical miles.
Traveling from the big cities on Australia’s east coast, Sydney and Melbourne, to New York or London has always been an adventure. After World War II, the journey could taker up to four weeks by steam ship.
For those in a hurry, the seaplanes could complete the route in just 12 dias, albeit with nine stops along the way.
When commercial jet airliners began operating in 1959, travel was reduced to 33 hourswith only three stops for refueling.
Today, even after seven decades of technological advancesthese antipodean routes continue to require at least one scale em hubs like Singapore, Dubai, Los Angeles or Dallas.
This can add up to four hours to the journey, in addition to the risks of missed connections, lost luggage, delays and the general inconvenience of customs procedures.
To respond to this problem, Qantas launched the initiative, with the aim of introducing non-stop flights to the other side of the world. The purpose goes beyond passenger convenience.
The airline sees these routes as a way of capture more traffic in tariffs premiumwhile protecting your reference services from foreign regulatory changesnight restrictions at airports, limitations on landing slots and regional geopolitical instability.
At the heart of the project is the Airbus A350-1000ULR (Ultra Long Range), a twin-engine aircraft widebody specialized, derived from the base A350-1000, says the .
The prototype took off from the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France, on June 2, 2026, in a test flight that lasted three hours and 43 minutes and reached an altitude of 41 thousand feet, about 12,500 meters.
The main difference between the A350-1000ULR and the standard version is a new rear central fuel tank with a capacity of 20 thousand liters, which increases operational range by approximately one thousand nautical milesor 1852 kilometers, for a total of 9700 nautical miles, approximately 17.964 km.
The aircraft must normally transport 238 passengers in a configuration four classeswith a lighter kitchen refrigeration system, equipped with high-efficiency refrigeration units designed for ultra-long haul operations.
The autonomy of the A350-1000ULR means, in practice, that the aircraft could take off from Lisbon and get to Melbourne, Australiawithout any stopover, with some safety margin: the Australian city is 17.769 km of our capital.
Unfortunately, for about 200kmwouldn’t be able to take us from Humberto Delgado to Sydney without any stops: the Australian capital is 18,180 km from Lisbon.
Currently, a trip from Lisbon to a distant destination, such as Tokyorequires one or more stopovers, which can extend transit time up to 23 hours — which the A350-1000ULR would shorten it to something like 14 hours.
