Airbus has flown its first A350-1000ULR flight-test aircraft back to Toulouse in 24 hours 24 minutes, covering 12,460 nautical miles on the Melbourne sector. The MSN707 mission, completed on 28 July, extends the Project Sunrise envelope beyond standard long-range testing and validates the rear center tank, fuel management logic, cabin air-conditioning load, and crew-rest integration for ultra-long-haul operations. Airbus framed the sortie as development testing, not certification work, with two Qantas guest pilots aboard alongside Airbus test crews. The airframer is using the aircraft to prove 23-hour block-time capability for Qantas’ planned non-stop Australia-US and Australia-UK services from 2027.