Longest Nonstop Flight by a Commercial Jet Airliner
Record Holder
Metric
Date Achieved
Location
Atlas Record ID
Airbus
24 hours 24 minutes
28 July 2026
Melbourne, Australia, to Toulouse, France
20426068
Airbus achieved the longest nonstop flight by a commercial jet airliner when the Airbus A350-1000ULR, manufacturer serial number MSN 707, flew from Melbourne, Australia, to Toulouse, France, in 24 hours and 24 minutes. The development flight covered approximately 23,075 kilometers without an intermediate landing or in-flight refueling, surpassing the strongest directly comparable historical benchmark.
Transparent Adjudicator's Statement
Summary of Claim
The claim concerns the greatest continuous airborne duration achieved by a commercial jet airliner during a nonstop flight.
For the purposes of this record, a commercial jet airliner is defined as a turbine-powered, fixed-wing aircraft designed and developed primarily for commercial passenger or cargo transportation. The flight itself was not required to operate as a scheduled passenger service or carry fare-paying passengers, provided that the aircraft belonged to a commercial airliner class and completed the flight without landing or receiving fuel while airborne.
The aircraft used for the achievement was an Airbus A350-1000ULR identified as MSN 707. The flight was classified as an Airbus development mission and was conducted under Airbus operational responsibility with Airbus and Qantas pilots aboard.
Airbus reported a continuous flight duration of 24 hours and 24 minutes and a total distance of 12,460 nautical miles.
Evidence Submitted
This recognition was initiated independently by Atlas World Records and was not based on a conventional applicant-submitted evidence package.
The evidence available for review included:
Airbus’s official published account of the flight;
Airbus technical information concerning the A350-1000ULR and MSN 707;
statements attributed to the flight captain and Airbus personnel;
official information concerning the aircraft’s departure from Melbourne and arrival in Toulouse;
independently published international news coverage;
publicly available flight-tracking information;
photographic and video documentation of the aircraft and flight;
published information concerning the flight’s duration, distance, route and crew;
historical documentation of previous commercial jet airliner endurance and distance benchmarks; and
technical information concerning the aircraft’s ultra-long-range configuration and additional fuel capacity.
The reviewed material consistently identified the aircraft, route, completion date, duration and approximate distance.
Atlas did not receive or independently inspect the aircraft’s flight-data recorder files, cockpit voice recorder data, technical logbook, air-traffic-control records, fuel documentation or signed crew declarations.
Comparative and Cross-Archive Benchmark Review
Atlas World Records conducted a comparative review of historical commercial aviation achievements and cross-referenced the publicly available records maintained by all major world record organizations.
The strongest directly comparable previous benchmark identified during the review involved a Boeing 777-200LR that completed a nonstop flight from Hong Kong to London in November 2005 using an extended eastbound route across the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean.
That flight was reported to have lasted 22 hours and 42 minutes and covered approximately 21,602 kilometers.
The Airbus A350-1000ULR flight exceeded that benchmark by:
1 hour 42 minutes in duration;
approximately 1,473 kilometers in distance; and
approximately 796 nautical miles in distance.
The adjudication also considered longer historical flights involving other aircraft classes. These included propeller-driven flying boats, military aircraft, experimental aircraft, uncrewed aircraft and aircraft that received fuel while airborne.
Those achievements were excluded because they were not completed by commercial jet airliners under conditions directly comparable to the Airbus flight.
The record does not claim to represent:
the longest flight by any aircraft;
the longest scheduled passenger service;
the longest flight carrying paying passengers;
the longest flight by a propeller-driven aircraft;
the longest military flight;
the longest uncrewed flight; or
the longest flight involving aerial refueling.
These distinctions preserve the integrity and specificity of the record category.
Verification Methodology
Atlas evaluated the claim using a clear-and-convincing-evidence standard appropriate for an independently documented public achievement.
The verification methodology included:
Confirming the identity and commercial classification of the aircraft;
confirming the aircraft’s departure point, destination and completion date;
comparing multiple independent reports of the flight duration and distance;
confirming that the flight was completed without an intermediate landing;
reviewing available information for any indication of in-flight refueling;
evaluating whether the aircraft configuration represented a legitimate commercial development variant;
comparing the result against the strongest documented historical benchmark;
excluding achievements involving materially different aircraft classifications or operating conditions;
reviewing the internal consistency of published route, timing, technical and operational information; and
limiting the certified metric to the level of precision supported by the available evidence.
The duration is recorded to the nearest minute because the available public evidence consistently reports 24 hours and 24 minutes but does not provide Atlas with authenticated second-by-second timing records.
The distance is treated as a supporting measurement and is reported using Airbus’s published figure of 12,460 nautical miles. Minor conversion differences caused by rounding do not materially affect the finding.
Adjudication Findings
The evidence supports the following findings:
The aircraft was an Airbus A350-1000ULR, manufacturer serial number MSN 707;
the aircraft was a development example of a commercial passenger jet airliner;
the flight departed from Melbourne, Australia, and landed in Toulouse, France;
the flight was completed on July 28, 2026;
the aircraft did not make an intermediate landing;
no evidence indicated that the aircraft received fuel while airborne;
Airbus maintained operational responsibility for the development flight;
the reported continuous flight duration was 24 hours and 24 minutes;
the reported distance was 12,460 nautical miles;
the result exceeded the strongest directly comparable previous benchmark; and
no verified superior achievement by a commercial jet airliner operating under comparable conditions was identified.
The use of an additional rear-center fuel tank did not invalidate the achievement. The tank formed part of the A350-1000ULR commercial development configuration and was not a temporary external modification created solely to facilitate a record attempt.
Although the aircraft had not yet entered scheduled passenger service, its status as a commercial jet airliner was sufficiently established by its design, intended airline use and development program.
Conclusion
Based on the totality of the publicly available evidence, Atlas World Records finds that Airbus achieved the Longest Nonstop Flight by a Commercial Jet Airliner.
The record was completed by Airbus A350-1000ULR MSN 707 during a nonstop flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Toulouse, France, ending on July 28, 2026.
The certified duration is:
24 hours 24 minutes
Atlas World Records recognizes Airbus as the record holder, subject to the continuing availability and accuracy of the public documentation upon which this independently initiated adjudication was based.
Should authenticated primary records later establish a materially different duration, distance or operational fact, Atlas reserves the right to amend the recorded measurement or classification. No presently available evidence indicates that such an amendment would affect the record status.
