By planned non-stop distance, the claim is strong
Airbus describes Sydney to London or New York missions as almost 10,000 nautical miles. Qantas plans Sydney to London as the first Project Sunrise route from October 2027.
Singapore Airlines published approximately 9,000 nautical miles for its Singapore to New York route when launching the service. On those official figures, the planned Qantas route is longer by distance.
Duration is a moving measurement
Airbus gives Project Sunrise a flight time of up to 22 hours. Singapore Airlines currently describes its non-stop Singapore to New York journey as approximately 18 hours 25 minutes.
Actual block and airborne times change with winds, routing, traffic and airport operations. A single unusually slow flight should not automatically redefine the normal scheduled comparison.
Operating and planned are different categories
Singapore to New York is an operating passenger service. Sydney to London remains planned and subject to aircraft certification, delivery and regulatory approvals.
Until Qantas begins carrying passengers, it is more precise to call it the planned longest service rather than replace the current operating record in advance.
Commercial and special flights should not be mixed
Record positioning flights, delivery flights and endurance tests can travel great distances without being scheduled passenger services. Project Sunrise is notable because Qantas intends to sell regular non-stop seats between the cities.
The comparison should therefore keep the same category on both sides: scheduled, non-stop, commercial passenger operation. Adding a stop or relying on an exceptional test changes the question.
The answer as of July 2026
Project Sunrise is designed to become the world's longest commercial passenger service by the distance and duration figures published by Airbus and Qantas. Its planned October 2027 launch would move the benchmark if service begins as described.
For now, Singapore to New York remains the established non-stop reference. The final ranking should be checked again when Qantas publishes the operating schedule and the first revenue flight is completed.
Sources and further reading
This article was written for Curiosity Desk. We do not copy other publishers or invent quotes. If a material error is found, we correct it openly.
Read the full standards →One answer should lead to a better question
Bring your curiosity to the group
Curious Minds is our public Facebook community for surprising science, strange history, Australian wildlife and everyday questions. No copied posts, no personal-friend invitations and no link dumping.
- Three self-contained discussion prompts each week
- Sourced answers and honest uncertainty
- Respectful conversation without spam
