Qantas orders 12 new aircraft for expanded Project Sunrise as Sydney-New York non-stop flights confirmed for 2028

Australians will soon be able to fly non-stop from Sydney to New York, with Qantas confirming the landmark route will launch in 2028. The roughly 18-hour journey will shave more than three hours off the fastest travel time currently available between Sydney and New York, which includes a stopover in Auckland.

The first non-stop commercial flights between the two cities are scheduled to begin in mid-2028, with tickets expected to go on sale from August 2027. The announcement marks an expansion of Qantas’ Project Sunrise ambitions, following the confirmation of its non-stop Sydney to London service which is due to launch from October 2027.

It also comes as the airline makes progress towards its ultra-long-haul ambitions, after a Project Sunrise test aircraft recently completed a record-breaking 24-hour and 24-minute flight from Melbourne to Toulouse. The Sydney-New York route will be flown using specially configured Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft, designed to travel more than 16,000km without refuelling. Each aircraft will feature 238 seats across four cabins, with Qantas planning to take delivery of 12 aircraft. More than 360 Qantas pilots and 1200 cabin crew will be trained to operate the Project Sunrise fleet. Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said the New York service represented the culmination of years of work. “Conquering the tyranny of distance has been part of who Qantas is from the very beginning” she said.

“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.” The airline first connected Sydney with New York in 1958 but the journey involved multiple stops. Hudson said the new service would fundamentally change how Australians travelled to the US. “New York has always captured the imagination and, for generations, reaching it from Australia has meant breaking up the journey somewhere along the way,” she said. “From 2028, our customers will be able to board in Sydney and arrive in New York about 18 hours later without stopping once, cutting about three hours off the current fastest travel time. “That changes what’s possible for travel between our two countries.” The airline expects its first aircraft to arrive in April next year.