New airliner sets record flying 24 hrs nonstop from Australia to France
New airliner sets record flying 24 hrs nonstop from Australia to France
新型客机创下纪录：从澳大利亚直飞法国，航程长达 24 小时
A new Airbus passenger jet completed an ultra-long test flight between Australia and France lasting more than 24 hours—paving the way for the world’s longest nonstop commercial flights starting up next year. 一架新型空客客机完成了一次往返于澳大利亚和法国之间的超长测试飞行，航程持续超过 24 小时，为明年开启全球最长的不经停商业航班铺平了道路。
The Airbus A350-1000ULR was developed specifically for Qantas Airways’ planned nonstop flights between Sydney and either New York or London. The Australian airline has ordered a dozen of the new airliners for its Project Sunrise routes that aim to start offering tickets for sale in 2027. 空客 A350-1000ULR 是专为澳洲航空（Qantas Airways）计划中的悉尼至纽约或伦敦直飞航线而研发的。这家澳大利亚航空公司已订购了 12 架该型号客机，用于其“日出计划”（Project Sunrise），目标是在 2027 年开始售票。
The aircraft had been doing initial test flights near the Airbus facilities in Toulouse, France, with a small team of test pilots and test engineers before conducting its first ultra long-haul test flight last week. After taking off from Toulouse on July 23, it flew for 19 hours and 13 minutes before landing in Melbourne, Australia, on July 24. 在进行上周的首次超远程测试飞行之前，该机型已在法国图卢兹的空客设施附近由一小队试飞员和测试工程师进行了初步试飞。7 月 23 日，飞机从图卢兹起飞，飞行 19 小时 13 分钟后，于 7 月 24 日降落在澳大利亚墨尔本。
That set the stage for the likely record-breaking return flight that lasted for 24 hours and 25 minutes between takeoff from Melbourne on July 27 and landing in Toulouse on July 28. The flight from Melbourne back to Toulouse covered 12,460 nautical miles in total, according to Airbus. Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 shows the flight route stretched across both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans along with North America. 这为随后打破纪录的返程飞行奠定了基础：7 月 27 日从墨尔本起飞，至 7 月 28 日降落图卢兹，全程耗时 24 小时 25 分钟。据空客公司称，从墨尔本返回图卢兹的航程总计 12,460 海里。航班追踪服务 Flightradar24 显示，该航线横跨了太平洋、大西洋以及北美大陆。
To handle such ultra long-range flights, Airbus describes the aircraft as being equipped with an extra rear center fuel tank capable of carrying 20,900 liters (5,521 gallons). That extends the aircraft range by 1,000 nautical miles to ensure it can cover the nearly 10,000 nautical miles for the nonstop flights between Sydney and either London or New York. 为了应对如此超远程的飞行，空客表示该机型配备了一个额外的后部中央油箱，可容纳 20,900 升（5,521 加仑）燃油。这使飞机的航程增加了 1,000 海里，以确保其能够覆盖悉尼至伦敦或纽约之间近 10,000 海里的直飞航程。
Taking shifts for long flights
长途飞行中的轮班制
The aircraft also features a twin flight crew rest compartment designed to allow pilots to enter or exit rest areas without disturbing each other during commercial flight operations. Multiple pilots are required to take shifts during such long flights. 该机型还配备了双机组人员休息舱，旨在让飞行员在商业飞行过程中进出休息区时互不干扰。在如此长途的飞行中，需要多名飞行员轮流值班。
“To manage fatigue during the 20 to 23-hour flights we implemented four-hour shifts for each pilot, but we rotated the crew every two hours,” said Xavier Pepin, the Airbus test pilot who captained the return flight, in an Airbus post. “This staggered approach ensures that when a new pilot joins the cockpit, they overlap for two hours with the outgoing pilot.” “为了管理 20 到 23 小时飞行过程中的疲劳，我们为每位飞行员安排了四小时的轮班，但每两小时轮换一次机组人员，”担任返程航班机长的空客试飞员泽维尔·佩平（Xavier Pepin）在空客的一篇帖子中说道。“这种交错式的方法确保了当新飞行员进入驾驶舱时，他们会与即将下班的飞行员有两小时的重叠时间。”
The first outbound flight to Melbourne included four Airbus pilots and five flight-test engineers who monitored aircraft systems in the cockpit or from work stations in the main cabin. But for the return flight to Toulouse, two Qantas pilots also joined the test flight crew that included three Airbus pilots and five flight test engineers. 首次飞往墨尔本的航班包括 4 名空客飞行员和 5 名飞行测试工程师，他们在驾驶舱或主客舱的工作站监控飞机系统。但在返回图卢兹的航班上，两名澳洲航空的飞行员也加入了测试机组，机组人员包括 3 名空客飞行员和 5 名飞行测试工程师。
“We have organized a schedule to allow a Qantas pilot to take the controls at specific times,” Pepin said. “These pilots are already qualified on the A350, and this mission provided them with their first experience with the -1000ULR variant.” “我们安排了时间表，让澳洲航空的飞行员在特定时间接管控制权，”佩平说。“这些飞行员已经具备 A350 的飞行资格，而这次任务让他们首次体验了 -1000ULR 变体机型。”
The aircraft drew considerable attention during its first ultra long-haul round trip. More than 3.6 million people tracked the aircraft during its return from Melbourne to Toulouse, according to Flightradar24. That made it the second-most-tracked flight ever on the flight tracking service, coming in only behind the Royal Air Force flight that carried Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin in 2022. 这架飞机在首次超远程往返飞行中引起了广泛关注。据 Flightradar24 统计，超过 360 万人在其从墨尔本返回图卢兹的过程中追踪了该航班。这使其成为该追踪服务历史上被追踪次数第二多的航班，仅次于 2022 年运送伊丽莎白二世女王灵柩的英国皇家空军航班。
World record and higher fuel prices in sight
世界纪录与高油价的挑战
For now, Singapore Airlines currently offers the longest nonstop commercial flights that regularly connect New York City and Singapore and also holds the Guinness World Record for longest-duration nonstop scheduled flight. Such commercial flights typically take between 18 and 19 hours and currently use the Airbus 350-900ULR variant that can carry up to 161 passengers. 目前，新加坡航空运营着连接纽约市和新加坡的最长直飞商业航班，并保持着最长持续时间直飞定期航班的吉尼斯世界纪录。此类商业航班通常耗时 18 至 19 小时，目前使用的是可搭载 161 名乘客的空客 A350-900ULR 变体机型。
By comparison, Qantas Airways expects the maximum Project Sunrise flight time with the new Airbus A350-1000ULR to be 21 hours and 40 minutes during commercial flights between Sydney and New York or London—more than enough to set a new world record. The latest test flight certainly surpassed that benchmark. 相比之下，澳洲航空预计使用新型空客 A350-1000ULR 执行“日出计划”时，悉尼至纽约或伦敦的商业飞行时间最长可达 21 小时 40 分钟——这足以创下新的世界纪录。最近的这次测试飞行无疑已经超过了这一基准。
Once outfitted for commercial service, each Qantas aircraft would carry up to 238 passengers. That represents the “lowest seat density of any A350-1000 in service in the world,” according to the Qantas Project Sunrise website. The Australian airline is making use of the extra space by including multiple self-serve stations with food and beverages and a “wellbeing zone” that includes room for passengers to stretch out. 一旦投入商业运营，每架澳洲航空的飞机将搭载多达 238 名乘客。据澳洲航空“日出计划”网站介绍，这是“全球所有在役 A350-1000 中座位密度最低的”。这家澳大利亚航空公司正在利用多出的空间，设置多个提供食品和饮料的自助服务站，以及一个包括乘客伸展空间的“健康区”。
Ticket prices have not yet been announced, but Qantas is allocating more than 40 percent of seats to passengers paying higher prices for First, Business, and Premium economy tickets. That could help the airline earn greater profits despite the lower number of overall passengers while pitching the nonstop routes as a unique premium service. 票价尚未公布，但澳洲航空已将超过 40% 的座位分配给购买头等舱、商务舱和高级经济舱的高价票乘客。尽管总乘客人数较少，但这有助于航空公司获得更高的利润，同时将直飞航线作为一种独特的优质服务进行推广。
However, Qantas may also consider charging higher ticket prices if it’s still paying higher jet fuel costs in 2027 as a result of the US-Israeli war with Iran and ongoing disruptions to oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Airlines are already facing the prospect of paying an extra $100 billion on jet fuel in 2026 alone, with Singapore Airlines recently reporting its first quarterly net loss since the height of the pandemic in 2022, in part because of soaring jet fuel prices. 然而，如果到 2027 年，由于美以与伊朗的冲突以及霍尔木兹海峡油轮运输持续受阻，导致航空燃油成本依然高企，澳洲航空也可能考虑提高票价。航空公司已经面临 2026 年一年内需额外支付 1000 亿美元航空燃油费的前景，新加坡航空最近报告了自 2022 年疫情高峰以来的首次季度净亏损，部分原因就是航空燃油价格飙升。