The new route will be the airline’s second ultra‑long‑haul offering under its Project Sunrise programme, following the planned Sydney‑London direct service slated for October 2027.

It will be the first commercial direct flight from Sydney’s Kingsford‑Smith Airport to New York’s JFK Airport, replacing the existing stop‑over option that typically costs over $1,400 one‑way and $1,900 round‑trip.

Qantas said tickets for the Sydney‑New York flight will go on sale in August 2027, although the carrier has not disclosed the exact launch month or fare levels; it has hinted that direct fares could be about 20 % higher than current stop‑over prices.

The service will be powered by Airbus A350‑1000ULR aircraft, of which Qantas has ordered 12. These planes feature extra fuel tanks that enable ranges beyond 16,000 km and flight times of up to 22 hours nonstop. The first ULR is expected to arrive in Australia in April 2027.

A test model completed a 24‑hour‑plus flight from Melbourne to Airbus’s factory in Toulouse in July, a record‑breaking demonstration of the aircraft’s endurance.

Inside the cabin, Qantas has created a dedicated “wellbeing zone” between economy and premium‑economy, offering stretch areas, guided exercise videos and self‑service snacks and drinks. The A350‑1000ULR will carry 238 seats, including six first‑class suites, 52 business suites, 40 premium‑economy seats and 140 standard economy seats.

The airline projects that Project Sunrise flights will add about $400 million to earnings over the next five years and lift profit margins from the current 4 % to roughly 10 %.

Demand for Qantas’s New York services has reportedly doubled since 2023, while short‑term US arrivals in Australia rose 4 % in the year to July 2026, even as Australian outbound travel to the US fell 9 % in the same period.

Chief executive Vanessa Hudson unveiled the mid‑2028 launch date at a New York cocktail‑bar event coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly, saying the nonstop link “completes a vision we set out many years ago” and will change how Australians travel.

Qantas is already training more than 360 pilots on its A350 simulator and preparing roughly 1,200 cabin crew members to operate the new fleet by the time the aircraft are fully delivered.