Captain James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour took 612 days to reach Botany Bay from England. Thanks to Airbus, Qantas and everyone else behind Project Sunrise, you will soon be able to make the same journey in a little under a day. The modern miracle of joining a Boeing 787-9 on British soil and stepping off down-under has been possible since March 2018. Qantas launched the service as a trial before committing to Project Sunrise a few years later. Thanks to a recent Qantas announcement, we now know that Project Sunrise tickets will be available for sale from February 2027, with flights launching in October 2027, presumably for the Australian summer and Northern summer season. Flight numbers and departure/arrivals times are currently unknown. I thought it would be interesting to consider the options and make a guess about what they will actually go for in this article. Advertisement: Flight paths The shortest distance from Sydney to London is shown by the blue line on the map below. It passes close to Hong Kong and is unlikely to be possible due to Russian airspace restrictions. The Aussie flag carrier’s current A380 service to London via Singapore is shown in red. Used with permission. Click here to play with this map on the excellent Great Circle Mapper. Flights between Australia and the UK via the eastern hemisphere are known colloquially as the Kangaroo Route. The idea is that the aircraft “hops” from one airport to another. Back in the day there were stops in places like Rome, Beirut, Kuwait, Muscat, Karachi, Rangoon, Singapore and elsewhere before the aircraft even entered Australian airspace. Reaching Australia by the so-called Southern Cross route is also possible, passing through the western hemisphere. Air New Zealand used to operate across both hemispheres, via both Hong Kong and Los Angeles. The Southern Cross is also shown in red on the map. Reports in the Australian press suggest that Project Sunrise flights will head slightly west, heading north from Sydney to Alaska and crossing the Arctic before proceeding south to London. The map below shows this route: Used with permission. Click here to play with this map on the excellent Great Circle Mapper. For this map, I have had the aircraft “turn the corner” at two degrees south of Barrow in Alaska, which should avoid out of bounds Russian airspace. According to the Great Circle Mapper this route is 11,608 statute miles (10,087 nautical miles). This is 1,035 miles longer than the great circle distance and 936 miles further than the Singapore stopover route. It is also 660 miles further than travelling via Doha, but 1,336 miles shorter than the Southern Cross route via Los Angeles. Flight length The flight is apparently expected to take around 22 hours. If the aircraft always heads north after take-off, I would expect that it will be affected equally by the winds in each direction. Quite how variable this is would need to be the subject of an Airbus or Qantas study. Departure and arrival times of current Qantas services The direct flight from Perth to London and back requires access to Gulf airspace to make it work. So the non-stop service is currently unavailable. It is however still in the winter schedule if you look far ahead enough: QF9 leaves Perth at 7.15pm and arrives in London 17 hours and 50 minutes later at 5.05am QF10 leaves London at 11.50am and arrives in Perth 16 hours and 40 minutes later at 12.30pm For the flights via Singapore: QF1 leaves Sydney at 4.15pm and arrives in Singapore at 9.35pm QF1 then leaves Singapore at 11.35pm and arrives in London at 6.15am, for a total journey time of 25 hours QF2 leaves London at 8.10pm and arrives in Singapore at 5.40pm QF2 then leaves Singapore at 7.40pm and arrives in Sydney at 6.35am, for a total journey time of 23 hours and 25 minutes Observant readers will note that after a two hour stopover each way there are only 23 block hours into London and 21 block hours 25 minutes from London. A 22 block hour non-stop is still plausible because the flight via Alaska is nearly 1,000 miles further than flying via Singapore. QF10 to Perth takes 16 hours and 40 minutes to fly 9,009 miles, roughly 2,500 miles shorter than Sydney to London over Alaskan airspace. The A350-1000 is unlikely to cover 2,500 miles in only four hours or so. It will be interesting to see if 22 hours as announced by Qantas really is what is published in the schedule. So, we have: Perth to London = evening departure and early morning arrival London to Perth = lunchtime departure and lunchtime arrival Sydney to London = afternoon departure and early morning arrival London to Sydney = evening departure and early morning arrival Let’s have a look at the options for Project Sunrise. The charts below show the departure and arrival times across the summer and winter schedules in both directions. The horizontal axis shows the departure time in Sydney (left hand chart) and London (right hand chart). The vertical axis shows the arrival time at the other end of the route. The blue boxes show, roughly, curfew hours when flights are unlikely to be allowed. Qantas will schedule to avoid these times. They might choose to position an aircraft at their extreme points. In the northern winter/Australian summer: Flights must leave Sydney before 11.30am or after 6.15pm Flights must leave London before 1.30pm or after 8.00pm In the northern summer/Australian winter: Flights must leave Sydney before 9.45am or after 4.00pm Flights must leave London before 3.45pm or after 10.00pm We can probably assume that Qantas will want to maximise aircraft utilisation. That means not leaving the aircraft overnight in London before a return. The QF9/10 pair has a six hour 45 minute turnaround, which is longer than strictly required to clean and cater. Qantas will likely want the aircraft at Heathrow before 8.00pm. So in practice there are probably three options and any could work. With such a long time on the plane, it is not yet clear whether premium departures banks for other flights will also be in demand for Project Sunrise flights. Option 1, the “long day” from Australia & the “long night” to Australia: 9.30am (Aus summer) or 7.30am (Aus winter) departure from Sydney for 8.00pm arrival in London 10.00pm departure from London for 7.00am (Aus summer) or 5.00am (Aus winter) arrival in Sydney This option is best for business travellers expected to spend a day in the office in Sydney, or cost-conscious leisure passengers prepared to wait for their Sydney hotel. It is not great for London-bound travellers as the arrival is too late for dinner or the theatre. Option 2, the “long night + supper” from Australia & the “long day” to Australia: Read more
Project Sunrise flight timing: Qantas has three options
Brief
Project Sunrise will offer non‑stop Sydney–London services with tickets on sale February 2027 and operations starting October 2027. The author models a likely Arctic routing that skirts Russian airspace (corner two degrees south of Barrow) giving a distance of 11,608 statute miles (10,087 nm) — longer than the Singapore stop by ~936 miles but shorter than the Southern Cross via Los Angeles — and estimates ~22‑hour block times. Using Great Circle Mapper comparisons and existing Qantas schedules (Perth–London timings QF9/QF10 and the QF1/QF2 Singapore pair), the piece highlights curfew windows at Sydney and London that constrain departure banks and aircraft utilization. Qantas’ target to have Project Sunrise equipment at Heathrow before 20:00, the QF9/10 6h45m turnaround, and A350‑1000 performance questions (eg, covering extra miles vs. time) are used to justify three feasible schedule options; the article gives a concrete Option 1 timetable favoring daytime departures from Sydney and late‑evening returns from London.
Why it matters
Qantas will put Project Sunrise tickets on sale in February 2027 with services launching in October 2027 (aiming for the Australian summer/Northern summer season).
Key details
- A likely Sydney–London routing via Alaska/Arctic (turning two degrees south of Barrow, Alaska to avoid Russian airspace) is 11,608 statute miles (10,087 nm) — 1,035 miles longer than the great‑circle and 936 miles longer than the current Singapore stopover route; Qantas has indicated an expected block time of about 22 hours.
- Current Qantas benchmarks: QF9 (Perth→London) departs 19:15, arrives 05:05 (17h50m); QF10 departs London 11:50, arrives Perth 12:30 (16h40m). Via Singapore, QF1 totals ~25h (SYD 16:15→SIN 21:35, SIN 23:35→LHR 06:15) and QF2 totals 23h25m on return.
- Operational constraints and curfews shape scheduling: northern winter/Australian summer windows require SYD departures before 11:30 or after 18:15 and LHR departures before 13:30 or after 20:00 (different windows apply in the opposite seasons). One proposed Option 1 schedule: SYD depart 09:30 (summer) / 07:30 (winter) → LHR arrive ~20:00; return LHR depart 22:00 → SYD arrive 07:00 (summer) / 05:00 (winter).