Qantas Moves QF1, Its Most Famous Flight Number, to the Nonstop Sydney-London Flight From October 2027

Qantas will give QF1 and QF2, the flight numbers that have long stood for its Sydney to London service, to the nonstop Project Sunrise flights that start in October 2027. The airline announced the change in a release dated November 8, 2026.

From that month, QF1 will fly Sydney to London without stopping for the first time, according to Qantas. The airline calls QF1 and QF2 “our most iconic flight number pair.”

What Happens to Today’s QF1 via Singapore

Today QF1 is a one-stop flight from Sydney to London Heathrow through Singapore, and Flightradar24’s schedule lists an Airbus A380 on both legs. That one-stop service is not going away.

Qantas says it will keep flying Sydney to London via Singapore for customers who want a stopover, under new numbers, QF5 and QF6. Those numbers belong today to the seasonal Perth to Rome flights, which will move to QF105 and QF106.

So from October 2027, travelers searching for QF1 will find a different flight: one nonstop sector instead of two legs with a stop at Changi. The one-stop trip will carry QF5 instead.

The nonstop flight saves up to four hours of total travel time compared with the existing service, Qantas says. On the current schedule in Flightradar24 data, QF1 takes about 24 hours and 45 minutes from Sydney departure to Heathrow arrival, including the stop.

The Aircraft Behind the New QF1

The nonstop flights will use the Airbus A350-1000ULR, a version of the A350-1000 with an extra fuel tank of 20,000 liters, roughly 5,300 US gallons. Qantas says that lets it fly more than 9,900 miles (16,000 km) and stay airborne for up to 22 hours.

Qantas will take 12 of the aircraft, each with 238 seats across four cabins. Fewer seats leave weight for fuel, and that trade is what the whole program rests on.

The first test aircraft is in the final stages of flight testing, and Qantas expects its first delivery in April 2027. In July the test jet flew to Melbourne from Toulouse, then flew home nonstop: 12,460 nautical miles in 24 hours and 24 minutes, which Airbus calls the program’s longest development flight.

Tickets for the nonstop Sydney to London flights are scheduled to go on sale in February 2027. The announcement does not give departure times or a scheduled flight time.

Why the Number Matters

Airlines keep low, memorable flight numbers for the routes they consider their flagships, and for Qantas that has meant the Kangaroo Route to London. Qantas says the route began in 1947, when the journey took four days and seven stops.

Since then the airline has flown it with Lockheed Constellations, Boeing 747s and Airbus A380s, and the stop in the middle has moved several times. Qantas says QF1 and QF2 have long been associated with that journey.

London to Sydney has been flown nonstop before, but not as a scheduled service: in 1989 a Qantas 747-400 made the trip with no passengers or cargo to set a distance record. Qantas’s first regular nonstop link to Europe came from Perth, on a Boeing 787, in March 2018.

Moving QF1 to the nonstop flight is Qantas signaling which product it sees as the flagship from 2027: the A350 without a stop, not the A380 with one. Qantas has said its A380s will be gradually phased out from calendar year 2028.

London is the first of two Project Sunrise routes. The second, Sydney to New York nonstop, follows from mid-2028, with tickets due on sale in August 2027.