What the Qantas Project Sunrise ultra long-haul A350s will offer onboard

Qantas has revealed the onboard experience for the Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft that will operate Project Sunrise, the airline’s non-stop Sydney-London service planned for October 2027.

The flights will cover approximately 10,000 nautical miles and are expected to take between 19 and 22 hours, so the aircraft cabins have been designed and configured with that endurance challenge in mind.

Here’s what’s actually on offer.

The aircraft and cabin layout

The A350-1000ULR (Ultra Long Haul) will carry 238 passengers across four cabins – First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy, and Economy Class – and that’s a notably low seat count for the aircraft type.

Qantas has been clear that this is deliberate, citing it as the lowest seat density of any A350-1000 currently flying anywhere in the world.

There is, however, more to that decision than just passenger comfort, though comfort is the part Qantas has chosen to emphasise.

Flying nearly 10,000 nautical miles non-stop requires carrying a significant amount of extra fuel, and every seat, galley, and amenity added to the cabin adds weight that works against that range. Fewer seats means a lighter aircraft, which is key to making this flight possible in the first place.

More than 40% of the seats on board are allocated to premium cabins:

• 6 First Class suites
• 52 Business Class seats/suites
• 40 Premium Economy seats
• 140 Economy seats (including 42 Qantas Economy Plus seats)

First Class

The First Class cabin has just 6 enclosed suites set out in a 1-1-1 configuration, each offering an 80-inch flat bed and a separate reclining armchair.

Qantas says the new First Class suites offer 50% more space than the existing First Class suites found on its A380s with each suite offering a flexible work and dining space sized for one or two people, a full-length wardrobe, and multiple personal storage areas.

We’re also told that the mattress in the First Suite has had specific attention paid to it, with Qantas saying that it ran months of testing to map pressure points before settling on a multi-layer memory foam design.

The attention to detail doesn’t end there. Each suite’s lighting can be programmed to support an individual passenger’s circadian rhythm, and a digital exterior panel lets passengers communicate with crew discreetly without having to open the suite door (introverts should love this!)

The reclining armchair in the suite is approximately 22 inches wide and the walls enclosing each suite stand at around 57 inches high (4″ 9′), so tall enough to offer privacy from other seated passengers but not from anyone walking by.

Entertainment comes via a 32-inch screen, notably larger than the one fitted to the equivalent A380 suites, and there seem to be plenty of charging options with USB-A, USB-C, a standard power outlet, and wireless charging are included.

Business Class

The 52 Business Class seats are set out in a 1-2-1 configuration (a similar set up to the one  you’ll find on the Qantas Dreamliners and the Qantas A330s), and for the first time in a Qantas Business cabin, each seat gets a sliding door to make it a suite.

The suite measures around 42 inches wide with privacy walls standing approximately 47 inches high. That puts the height of Qantas suite walls in line with the walls you’ll find on the BA Club Suite, but leaves them noticeably lower than the walls surrounding the Qatar Airways Qsuite (which measure between 52″ and 56″ depending on version).

The seat in each suite offers lumbar support and, we’re told, is 25″ wide, but I suspect that this figure includes the armrests, so expect something closer to 22″.

The seat can convert into a flat bed that’s 80″ long and 25″ wide (that’s one more inch of length than offered by the airline’s A380 Business Class seats) and passengers get a dining table and another table area to the side of the seat.

Storage space in the suite appears to be good with a leather ottoman that lifts up for extra space, a mirrored personal storage compartment and a separate glove box.

For entertainment, passengers an 18″ touchscreen, described as two inches larger than the screens fitted in Qantas’ A380s and 787s and for charging, there’s a full set of options including USB-A, USB-C, AC power, and wireless charging.

Business Class, we’re told, will also offer flexible dining which, Qantas says, will allow passengers to time their meals based on the circadian-rhythm research used to design the rest of the cabin (presumably Qantas will let passengers know when it’s best to dine based on this research).

Another feature designed to give passengers the best chance of arriving at their destination well-rested and ready to go is the cabin lighting which will dim at “scientifically optimised intervals” to help ease passengers towards sleep.

Premium Economy

The Premium Economy will have 40 seats arranged in a 2-4-2 configuration, with a winged, adjustable privacy headrest and a calf rest designed for full leg support.

Qantas says this cabin has been redesigned from the ground up specifically for ultra long-haul flying, and the seats get the same custom multi-layer memory foam as the First Class and Business Class mattresses which have been developed through ergonomic modelling, lumbar support testing, and pressure mapping.

At 40″, the pitch (leg room) on offer with these seats is impressive, but as Qantas has neglected to mention the width of these seats or the recline that these seats will offer, we have to assume that these will be similar to those of the seats already in use on the Dreamliners flying between Perth and London where the seats are 20.5″ wide and offer 9″ of recline.

Economy

The Economy Class cabin will come fitted with 140 seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, including 42 Economy Plus seats at the front of the cabin.

Interestingly, the information that Qantas’ has supplied describes the aircraft as one in which “more than 70% of seats” have a pitch of 33″ or more and it points out that this is more generous than any other aircraft that it operates.

That’s accurate, but it’s also a carefully worded way of avoiding a less impressive fact.

Passengers booked into the Economy Plus seats get 34″ of pitch and will benefit from priority boarding and will have priority access to overhead baggage space. That’s good.

Passengers booked into some of the regular Economy Class seats will enjoy 33″ of pitch which while not amazing, is definitely more than you’ll find in most Economy Class cabins.

What Qantas doesn’t mention in any of its PR releases, however, is that a good portion of the Economy Class seats on this aircraft will only offer 32″ of pitch (a fact confirmed by Executive Traveller when speaking to Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace).

Apparently, the standard 33-inch Economy seats had to give something up to make room for the 34″ of pitch given to the Economy Plus seats at the front of the cabin, so around 30% of the standard Economy Class seats (the seats towards the rear) get just 32 inches of pitch rather than 33.

To put 32 inches in context, it’s only an inch more than what most full-service airlines offer in Economy Class on all of their long-haul routes, it only matches what Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines already offer in Economy Class on their own A350s, and it’s actually an inch less than what JAL offers Economy Class passengers on its A350-1000s.

That unfortunate “omission” aside, however, there is a little bit good news in the Economy Class cabin.

All the Economy Class seats get the same multi-layer memory foam treatment as the Premium Economy seats and they are finished in a wool upholstery Qantas is calling “Pilbara Red” which has been chosen partly for improved breathability and temperature regulation on long flights – that could prove to be useful on a flight of 19+ hours.

Lastly in this cabin, we should mention that entertainment is to be found on on a 13.3″ touchscreen, and that the Economy Economy Class seats get USB-C charging built in.

Note: Qantas Platinum One and Platinum frequent flyers get complimentary access to Economy Plus seating at the time of booking, with Gold members able to access it from 24 hours before departure, subject to availability.

Wellbeing

Positioned between the Premium Economy and Economy cabins, Qantas has fitted what it’s calling a “Wellbeing Zone” to its newest aircraft and this is being billed as the first purpose-built inflight space of its kind.

It includes sculpted wall panels with integrated stretch handles, a guided on-screen movement programme, a hydration station, and a selection of refreshments. It’s available to all passengers regardless of cabin.

Qantas is keen to emphasize that the whole aircraft interior, not just the Wellbeing Zone, has been designed around research from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, with lighting, dining, and rest periods intended to work together to reduce the effects of ultra long-haul flight.

Inflight entertainment & Wi-Fi

As well as all the other new things we’re seeing on the A350, Qantas is also rolling out a new inflight entertainment system on the aircraft which it’s calling its most significant entertainment upgrade in over a decade.

The new system includes a “journey planner” synced to the cabin lighting, showing passengers when meals will be served and when the cabin will dim for rest and it will be available in 15 languages.

It remembers viewing history and includes a “watch together” feature letting passengers share a movie with up to three others. More importantly, Bluetooth pairing will be available for all cabins.

As far as Wi-Fi goes, Qantas confirmed back in 2023 that the free-to-all service will run on Viasat’s network, but it says that the high-speed connection is contingent on the completion of satellite launches covering its international network, so it’s worth keeping in mind that the full international rollout isn’t guaranteed to be finished by the time this aircraft enters service.

Thoughts

There’s a lot to like here, but there are concerns too.

The First Class suites sound genuinely excellent, and a 50% increase in space over the current A380 suites is a significant and welcome upgrade on a flight of this length. Given how much each seat will sell for, however, I’d expect nothing less.

The Business Class cabin’s privacy door is a sensible addition given how long these flights will be and the seat sounds like it will be genuinely spacious with the 80″ (6″ 8′) bed being big enough to keep just about all customers happy.

In the Premium Economy cabin the 40″ of leg room is impressive (and will be needed), but you can’t get away from the fact that it looks like these seats aren’t going to be any wider than the seats you’ll find in most other long-haul Premium Economy cabins, and that’s not great.

If Qantas really wanted to make an effort to keep Premium Economy passengers happy, it could have broken the mold and gone for a 2-3-2 configuration which would have allowed it to fit wider seats but, with people seemingly happy to book these seats on the non-stop flights between Perth and London, I guess Qantas didn’t feel the need to go that far.

In Economy Class things look a bit better than in other long-haul Economy Class cabins, but when you consider the incredible amount of time passengers will be asked to spend in these seats (before takeoff, during the flight, and after landing), I’m struggling to understand who will be rushing to pay the premium Qantas is bound to want to charge.

What demographic can’t afford a premium cabin seat but still desperately needs to get to London a few hours quicker than someone taking a much needed break in Singapore or Dubai?

Clearly such a demographic exists or the Economy Class cabins flying between Perth and London would be going out empty, but I can’t work out who these people are.

The fact remains that nothing that the new Qantas A350 will offer changes the fundamental challenge of a 19 to 22-hour flight, and no amount of clever lighting or a stretch zone between cabins fully solves the problem of being in an aircraft cabin for the better part of a day.

Yes, a lot of the differences between these cabins and the cabins in regular long-haul aircraft are genuine improvements, but how much difference to the overall experience will all these changes really make?

Passengers are still going to be sealed in a composite tube for longer than on any other flight and while First Class and Business Class will almost certainly be great, I fear for the experience in the other two cabins.

Bottom line

Qantas has designed a genuinely premium-focused configuration for its Project Sunrise A350s which we can expect to enter service in October 2027 on the Sydney-London route.

There’s low seat density, improved seat pitch (leg room) across every cabin, redesigned First Class and Business Class suites, and a dedicated Wellbeing Zone for all passengers, so a lot of things look good.

Whether this is a service worth trying out, however, will almost certainly depend on what cabin you’re flying and how desperate you are to get to your destination as fast as modern day engineering and budgets permit.

First Class and Business Class will almost certainly be very good on this aircraft, and on a flight of this length, that’s exactly what they will need to be.

What I question is why most people would choose to spend 19 to 22 hours in Premium Economy or Economy Class when a slightly longer one-stop routing through Singapore or Dubai would only add a few hours to the total journey time, and would give them an opportunity to get off the aircraft, stretch their legs, get some non-airline food, and have a shower (if they have lounge access) before they then continue on to their destination.

There is nothing that Qantas is offering on its new A350 that can come close to offering the same respite from the confines of an aircraft as a layover of a few hours does, and that’s something anyone thinking of booking a Project Sunrise Premium Economy or Economy Class seat should consider.

Related: Qantas abandons plans for a dedicated First Class lounge in London