Airbus A350-1000ULR Sets World Record with 24-Hour Nonstop Flight
The next-generation commercial jet flew 12,460 nautical miles from Melbourne to Toulouse in 24 hours and 24 minutes, surpassing a benchmark that had stood for more than two decades.
By Atlas Editorial Team
29 July 2026 • Toulouse [France]
Longest Nonstop Flight Longest Nonstop Flight Longest Nonstop Flight
For most of aviation history, the length of a flight has been defined by necessity. Fuel runs low. Crews reach their limits. Geography eventually demands a landing.
On July 28, 2026, an Airbus A350-1000ULR crossed a different threshold.
The aircraft arrived in Toulouse, France, after flying nonstop from Melbourne, Australia, for 24 hours and 24 minutes. Its path stretched approximately 23,075 kilometers across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, carrying the specially developed airliner farther and keeping it airborne longer than any previous commercial jet airliner flight on record.
The Long Way Home
The aircraft, identified as MSN 707, had reached Melbourne several days earlier after an approximately 20-hour flight from Airbus headquarters in Toulouse. Its return journey was deliberately more demanding.
Rather than following the shortest practical route between Australia and France, the aircraft traveled northward across the Pacific, continued over North America and crossed the Atlantic before descending into southern France. The extended path allowed Airbus to test the outer limits of an aircraft being developed for some of the longest passenger routes ever proposed.
By the time the A350 touched down in Toulouse on the morning of July 28, it had covered 12,460 nautical miles, equivalent to approximately 23,075 kilometers or 14,338 miles.
The flight lasted 24 hours and 24 minutes.
Twenty-Four Hours in the Air
The aircraft was commanded by Airbus test pilot Xavier Pepin. Five pilots were aboard for the return flight: three Airbus pilots and two Qantas pilots already qualified on the A350 but new to its ultra-long-range configuration.
Airbus remained responsible for the operation throughout the journey. Rest periods were carefully coordinated, with at least one Airbus test pilot occupying a flight-deck seat whenever a Qantas pilot was seated alongside.
The mission was formally classified as a development flight rather than a commercial passenger service or certification flight. Its purpose was not simply to remain airborne. Engineers used the journey to evaluate fuel-management systems, cabin environmental conditions and the aircraft’s performance during an exceptionally long mission.
At the center of the testing was the A350-1000ULR’s additional rear-center fuel tank. The system adds approximately 20,900 liters of fuel capacity and is designed to make flights approaching 10,000 nautical miles commercially practical.
The Benchmark It Passed
The previous recognized benchmark had stood for more than two decades.
In November 2005, a Boeing 777-200LR flew from Hong Kong to London by traveling eastward across the Pacific, North America and the Atlantic. That flight remained airborne for 22 hours and 42 minutes and covered 21,601.7 kilometers.
The Airbus flight surpassed that duration by 1 hour and 42 minutes. It also traveled approximately 1,473 kilometers farther.
The comparison is particularly direct. Both achievements involved long-range versions of commercial twin-engine jet airliners. Both were development or demonstration flights rather than regularly scheduled passenger services. And both used intentionally extended global routes to demonstrate the maximum reach of a new aircraft.
MSN 707 is the first A350-1000ULR being developed as part of Qantas’s Project Sunrise program. The airline has ordered 12 aircraft of the type for planned nonstop connections between eastern Australia and destinations including London and New York.
Those future passenger services are expected to take approximately 19 to 21 hours, meaning ordinary operations are not intended to duplicate the full duration of the record flight. Instead, the 24-hour mission demonstrated the operational margin required for long flights, including taxiing, holding, diversion contingencies and changing weather conditions.
The record therefore represents more than an aircraft remaining aloft for an extraordinary length of time. It marks the point at which a full day in the sky became part of the tested capability of a modern commercial jet airliner.
On July 28, 2026, the boundary moved.
Atlas World Records recognizes Airbus for completing the Longest Nonstop Flight by a Commercial Jet Airliner, achieved by the Airbus A350-1000ULR MSN 707 during a flight of 24 hours and 24 minutes from Melbourne, Australia, to Toulouse, France.
Certified by Atlas World Records on 29 July 2026