SYDNEY, June 27, 2026, 23:03 AEST
- Qantas has set its Project Sunrise A350 layout for 238 seats, with 98 of those—41.2%—in First, Business, and Premium Economy.
- CEO Vanessa Hudson said Classic Reward seats are coming to Project Sunrise, “even in first class,” though seats will be scarce.
- Qantas closed at A$10.68 on June 26, slipping 0.3%. The airline’s FY26 results are expected on Aug. 27.
Qantas Airways ASX:QAN is using the world’s longest passenger flight to see how few fixed-rate frequent-flyer seats it can offer and still fill the cabin.
Qantas’ new Airbus SE EPA:AIR A350-1000ULR order is coming with a rewards angle for investors. The jet carries 238 seats: six First suites, 52 Business suites, 40 Premium Economy and 140 Economy seats. That’s 98 up front, so 41.2% of seats are in premium cabins, even before Economy Plus. Qantas plans to open ticket sales in February 2027 for daily non-stops from Sydney to London. The first flights are penciled for October 2027.
Qantas will offer Classic Reward seats on its Project Sunrise flights, including in first class, Hudson told Executive Traveller. But he said the airline won’t “flood the market with them.” Classic Reward redemptions on Project Sunrise will stick to fixed rates: 227,800 Qantas Points for First, 151,800 for Business, 113,900 in Premium Economy, and 58,900 in Economy, according to the report. Qantas is not adding a Project Sunrise points premium to those Classic Reward rates. However, Classic Plus First tickets bought with points could top 850,000 points. Executive Traveller
Classic First redemptions matter because of the big gap in points. At 227,800 points, the Classic First redemption is roughly 27% of the 850,000-point Classic Plus figure. Just one fixed-price redemption in the six-seat First cabin would remove 16.7% of all First inventory from the cash pool on any Qantas flight where it’s offered.
Loyalty is a big deal for Qantas shareholders. Qantas Loyalty posted A$286 million in underlying EBIT for the December half, up 12%. Qantas Frequent Flyer counted over 18.3 million members who booked more than 2.5 million reward seats in six months—roughly 14,000 per day.
Project Sunrise lets Qantas dangle a top-tier redemption option for loyalty members but limits the number of low-cost reward seats. The setup keeps frequent flyers interested without losing much premium cabin revenue on a flight pitched to travelers who’ll pay for the nonstop.
Project Sunrise for Qantas still faces delivery and certification risk. The airline said its first A350 for the project logged a three-hour, 43-minute test flight out of Toulouse this month. This jet has a 20,000-litre rear-centre fuel tank. The testing is set for around 80 hours before Qantas is supposed to get the first plane in April 2027.
Airbus started flight tests in France of its A350-1000ULR as it seeks European certification, Business Insider said Saturday. The plane is built for flights up to 22 hours. Qantas will train over 360 pilots and 1,200 flight attendants for Project Sunrise, which includes 12 aircraft, according to the report.
Qantas is pitching the route on sleep science as well as time saved. The University of Sydney said its cabin lighting setup came after more than 150 hours of testing in an Airbus A350 mock-up. There are 12 lighting scenes, with names like “Awake,” “Sunset” and “Sunrise.” “It’s great to see circadian science being translated into practice,” said Associate Professor Sveta Postnova. The University of Sydney
Project Sunrise test flights from Qantas put 23 volunteers on 20-hour trips, tracked by wearable devices. Researchers saw that using timed light, meals, sleep, and exercise cut down on reported jet lag, helped people sleep better on the plane, and led to better cognitive scores over the next two days. “The early results are promising,” said Peter Cistulli, Professor of Sleep Medicine at the University of Sydney. Qantasnewsroom
Qantas closed at A$10.68 on June 26 in Sydney, slipping 0.3% by the 4:00 p.m. AEST close. Volume reached 5,810,104 shares. The ASX cash market is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on business days.
Qantas’ next investor date is coming up, with the company’s financial year wrapping on June 30. Preliminary results for FY26 are due Aug. 27.
