How Many Crew Members Does It Take To Fly On Project Sunrise?

Published Nov 7, 2026, 7:00 AM EST Luke Diaz is a freelance military writer with experience with active duty experience in the US Navy as well as defense and industrial engineering. He is a former Naval Flight Officer who performed tactical air control on the carrier-based E-2 Hawkeye. The debut of 'Project Sunrise' next year is one of the most anticipated developments in the history of Australia's flag carrier, Qantas Airways. The landmark new route will establish the longest nonstop air bridge in history when flights commence to connect the East Coast of Australia to London and New York. To make the 22-hour flights possible, Airbus has been developing a special ultra-long-range Airbus A350-1000 variant, which will be staffed by 18 crew members on every flight. Just like the mission, the new A350-1000ULR will be the first of its kind when it debuts in October 2027. Project Sunrise marks the realization of a century-old aviation dream to span the final frontier of global distance without intermediate stopovers. The Sydney–London route will eliminate stops on the iconic Kangaroo Route for the first time since 1947. That spans close to 9,200 nautical miles (17,038 km) and will make it the longest scheduled passenger service in the world when it opens. To ensure that such an ambitious new program will launch smoothly, the aircrew will be composed only of fully qualified and experienced captains and first officers, with no junior aircrew. The pilots rotate in pairs between active cockpit duties and scheduled rest breaks. Meanwhile, in the cabin, to ensure that flight attendants are not overworked and flyers receive the standard of care that Qantas is famed for, the aircraft will have the largest cabin complement of any twinjet in the fleet. How Many Crew Members Will Operate Qantas' Longest Long-Haul Jet? Credit: Airbus A 22-hour continuous flight pushes the limits of human endurance. Qantas spent years collaborating with medical researchers at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, aviation unions, and Airbus to tailor the workforce precisely to the flight profile, layout, and in-flight service. Qantas negotiated a historic pact with the Australian and International Pilots Association to mandate two full captains and two first oficers. On typical long-haul routes, airlines use two senior pilots in command and two junior second officers who only take the controls for cruise. While a standard A350-1000 holds roughly 350 to 410 passengers, Qantas dramatically cut this down to just 238 seats to reduce weight and enable the ultra-long range. However, more than 40% of the plane is dedicated to high-tier seating: 6 first class Suites, 52 business class seats, and 40 premium economy seats. To support the additional strain of the extremely long flight and provide the elevated experience expected of premium airfare, the FA-to-passenger ratio is higher than the rest of the fleet. Flight tracking data and sleep science dictate that human alertness drops significantly after 10 hours. The four pilots operate in rigid, alternating shifts. To maximize space on the main deck for passengers, Airbus designed overhead crew rest compartments nestled in the ceiling of the fuselage. While two handle the flight deck, the other two sleep in a pod above the front cabin, which features two full-length lie-flat beds. The FA quarters feature eight bunks for the crew with heavy privacy curtains, noise insulation, and specialized dimmable lighting to facilitate rapid sleep entry. Because cabin crew also operate on rolling rest shifts over 22 hours, the maximum number of flight attendants that can be safely rotated is limited. To ensure crew is fully alert for the return leg, Qantas also built mandatory 60-hour layovers into the scheduling. Why Four Pilots, Not Three Will Fly The Kangaroo Route Credit: Airbus Many long-haul airlines add a third pilot on very long flights so that rest can be shared, and the pilots’ union at Qantas has also argued for that model in early planning rounds. The AIPA has said its preferred arrangement for flights of about 20 hours is three pilots who are each qualified to land the aircraft. However, Qantas’s chief medical officer insisted from 2024 that the airline would begin with a more conservative approach to crewing. In a three-pilot operation, the cockpit relies on a rolling cycle. While many ULH flights spanning 12 to 15 hours operate safely with three pilots, stretching a flight to nearly a full day changes the biology of human fatigue. If you divide 20 hours of cruise time evenly among three pilots, each gets roughly 6.5 hours of bunk time. However, as they swap out, that rest must be broken up into short, fragmented rest. A flight that takes 22 hours leaves very little margin for error if something goes wrong late in the journey. If a pilot becomes incapacitated or falls seriously ill 18 hours into a flight, a three-pilot crew is immediately reduced to two. Those remaining two pilots would be forced to fly the rest of the mission with zero opportunities for further rest, driving fatigue levels to dangerous extremes. With four pilots, the crew splits cleanly into two independent, two-pilot teams: Team A and Team B. This allows for a clean break in shifts. Instead of catnapping, a pair of pilots can sleep in a cycle that aligns with normal human sleep patterns. While adding a fourth pilot increases crew costs, beyond improving safety, it also pays off in fuel efficiency during the flight. A well-rested air crew can actively work to optimize the flight path, finding better tailwinds, or adjusting speeds to save fuel. A heavily fatigued three-pilot crew is more likely to default to passive, rigid flight paths to minimize their workload. On a plane carrying massive fuel loads, a sharp crew's micro-adjustments save enough fuel to easily offset the cost of the extra pilot. What The Test Flights Show Credit: Airbus Since its airframes are still under construction at Airbus's factory in Toulouse, France, Qantas has performed research on other ULH itineraries flown by its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Fleet. Monash University researchers tracked pilot brainwaves and alertness levels across the 19-to-20-hour test runs. These test flights have successfully demonstrated that both the human body and the aircraft's custom engineering can withstand the extreme limits of 22-hour continuous flight. By tracking passengers using wearable devices, sleep diaries, and melatonin monitoring, researchers from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre proved that jet lag could be severely minimized. Changing the cabin lighting, meal schedule, and serving protein-rich meals aligned with the destination's time zone after boarding showed dramatically improved post-flight recovery. Meanwhile, feedback from test passengers emphasized that having space to move and stretch is an absolute necessity on flights this long. On July 23 to 28 a skeleton crew of six test pilots from Airbus made the first historic, record-shattering marathon round trip between Toulouse, France, and Melbourne, Australia. Prototype MSN707 was packed with over five tons of custom Flight Test Instrumentation and 1,000+ advanced sensors wired throughout the cabin to stream real-time engineering data. The aircraft flew from Melbourne back to Toulouse via the Pacific, crossing the US and Atlantic. Pushed by specific testing parameters, it stayed airborne for an incredible 24 hours and 23 minutes. From a capital and corporate perspective, the successful flights also de-risked one of the largest capital deployments in Qantas' modern history. The test flight confirmed that the physical airframe modification, the 5,283-gallon (20,000-liter) Rear Center Tank, could deliver the required range without a payload penalty. The tests verified that skipping hubs like Singapore or Dubai saves up to four hours of travel time to justify the planned 20% fare premium. That will make Project Sunrise profitable as well as pioneering. A Tight Calendar And An Open Second Route Credit: Airbus Even though there is great promise in the testing results, the current delivery timeline is already a far cry from the original 2026 window. It hopes to receive its first A350-1000ULR in April next year in order to complete the training and preparation necessary to commit service in October. The airline will need to complete an intensive proving campaign with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority in Australia after they receive that first aircraft, the jet nicknamed 'Vega.' Ticket sales are currently expected to begin in February, two months before the first jet is slated to be on the ground 'down under.' Operating a daily ultra-long-haul route requires a minimum of three functioning aircraft to handle maintenance cycles and continuous rotations. If a single software bug, supplier delay for cabin interiors, or unexpected maintenance variance pops up during proving flights, the late October launch slips. For its part, Airbus has promised to deliver the four follow-on airframes that will come after the first jet is delivered in a faster time frame. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what the actual scheduled routes will be, as advertising has shifted over time as the project has gone on. While the Sydney to London route is confirmed for the debut, the parallel Sydney to New York itinerary has been confirmed for a much later launch in mid-2028, according to AeroTime. Similarly, Qantas has completely dropped references to direct Melbourne-to-London or Brisbane-to-London legs from its short-term strategy. This will leave the airline with only one route to rely on for economic stability when Project Sunrise kicks off. Although this could be a cost-saving measure that pays off by concentrating all of the assets on one high-demand market, if traffic falters, it could potentially slow the addition of the other highly anticipated destinations expected to follow on later.