Project Sunrise promises a new dawn for Qantas and Australia
The airline that once flew 30-hour wartime missions in near silence now prepares to shatter aviation boundaries with flights so long passengers will see the sun rise twice.
They were dubbed the “Double Sunrise” flights: 30-hour non-stop journeys flown by small Catalina flying boats from Perth to Sri Lanka during World War II, navigating in near silence to avoid enemy detection.
The crews were airborne so long that by the time they touched down, they had witnessed the sun rise twice.
For Qantas today, that extraordinary legacy informs Project Sunrise, the airline’s audacious plan to link Australia non-stop with New York and London.
Every detail of these ultra-long-haul operations – from aircraft design, lighting, and food service to crew rest procedures – echoes the meticulous planning, courage and endurance of those wartime pioneers.
At the forefront of that evolution is Alex Passerini, Qantas’s chief technical pilot. For him, Project Sunrise is about honouring the past while shaping the future of global aviation.
“In many ways, the challenges we face today echo those first crews,” Passerini says. But now the airline is armed with a new generation of aircraft and cutting-edge insights informed by big data and artificial intelligence.
A 33-year Qantas veteran, he sees the ultra-long sectors not as a complete leap into the unknown, but as an extension of the airline’s long-haul expertise. He points to the airline’s existing long-haul experience – from Perth to London and Paris, or Auckland to New York – stressing that Project Sunrise builds on a solid foundation.
“When I think about the human factors involved in 20-plus-hour sectors, I see it as a continuation of what we’ve already mastered,” Passerini says.
The combination of engineering innovation and scientific understanding represents both evolutionary and revolutionary steps in long-haul aviation.
“It’s revolutionary in terms of what we are doing, linking east-coast Australia to London and New York. But in terms of our own experience, it’s an evolution of what we have already accomplished. It’s a building-block approach,” Passerini says. “We are good at long-range operations, we’ve built a healthy compendium of knowledge, and we are applying it here.”
The difference, he says, is scale: these new flights will stretch the human body and mind for unprecedented lengths, requiring new approaches to rest, nutrition and physiological monitoring.
Even before the Covid pandemic, Qantas had begun gathering detailed operational and physiological data to shape the project.
“We were doing some Project Sunrise data collection flights direct from New York to Sydney, or even London to Sydney, to collect data,” Passerini says. “So this is very much data-driven, science-based, with structured rest breaks in a specially designed crew rest facility.”
Those insights now inform every stage of Project Sunrise operations, from pre-flight preparation to the design of rest cycles, seating ergonomics, cabin lighting, and environmental controls.
Pilot training and checking are also being reinvented, incorporating simulator work, route-specific procedures, extended scenario training, and close co-ordination with international regulators.
“The simulator is going through its acceptance process,” Passerini says. “Our initial group of pilots heading up to Toulouse, flying with BA, flying with Cathay, learning from others. As is the work with the regulator and scientists on the makeup of the crew, structuring rest breaks, how much rest is at destination, foods to avoid. It is a very comprehensive look.”
At the heart of it all is a new generation of aircraft. The A350-1000ULR, a customised ultra-long-range variant of Airbus’s flagship, brings capabilities that previous aircraft simply did not possess.
“The 6000-foot cabin pressure, additional humidity, special filtration, and new cabin design and lighting are all building blocks from what we’ve learned,” Passerini says. “It is about the way we approach not only the flight itself, but pre-flight preparation and rest periods before, during, and after.”
Production and certification of Qantas’s first customised A350-1000ULR is progressing meticulously at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France.
The first aircraft, known as MSN 707, pays homage to the Boeing 707s Qantas first flew in the late 1950s. Each stage of its construction is carefully monitored to ensure it can meet the unprecedented demands of ultra-long sectors.
For passengers, the appeal is immediate. Non-stop flights to London and New York eliminate transits, reduce exposure to weather or technical delays, and allow travellers to arrive exactly where they intend.
“The ability to link Sydney and London, and Sydney and New York, is just an amazing proposition,” Passerini says.
Even after decades of flying, he is inspired by many passengers’ reactions after completing the current ultra-long-haul routes flown by Qantas.
“I’m impressed by the fact that they generally have very positive things to say about the experience, despite how long it is,” he says.
Yet for him, the excitement of Project Sunrise isn’t just technical, it is human.
“We’ve got the cabin designed around service … custom lighting, timed meal service … what used to be called the full zone, it’s now the exercise area that is cutting-edge and new,” he says. “All of those little details collectively create a positive experience.”
Flight routes will also be optimised for efficiency, sometimes routing over the North Pacific or polar regions to ensure the smoothest journey. The introduction of several no-fly zones across the world in recent years has opened up different avenues.
As always, safety underpins every decision.
“It’s super important to stay humble,” Passerini says. “Don’t assume you know everything. There’s always something to learn as we push these flight times out another two or three hours. There are lots of problems to solve, and new things to consider, to maintain that reputation for safety and push it further along.”
For Australians especially, at the end of the longest long-haul flight routes on the planet, he believes breaking down the tyranny of distance through Project Sunrise carries real meaning.
“Bringing us closer together, whether that is for business or to see people you love, being part of that is special for me,” he says.
For Qantas, this is more than an airline initiative; it is a testament to legacy, human ingenuity and the airline’s enduring spirit as the national carrier.
“Standing on the shoulders of those before us, hopefully making them proud. That spirit of can-do and adventure is still well and truly alive,” Passerini says.
“Ultimately, knowing what you’re good at – and this is something we are good at – is very fulfilling. It is exciting to be part of it.”
