For anyone planning flights between Sydney and London, the stopover has long been part of the calculation. Singapore and Hong Kong offer a welcome intermission, while the Middle East has supplied its own compelling alternatives over the years. After enough films, fitful sleep and negotiations over the armrest, even a dazed lap of an unfamiliar terminal can feel restorative.
The prospect of spending more than 20 hours on a single aircraft therefore requires a little consideration, particularly for taller passengers whose chances of sleeping in economy are slim to begin with. A UK Christmas has its charms, but so does spending December in Sydney with full use of your knees.
Project Sunrise, Qantas’ new non-stop Sydney–London service, changes that calculation. For those prepared to pay for its most luxurious first class yet, the airline promises enough space and comfort to make the marathon considerably more civilised. The question is how much that convenience is worth.
Group CEO Vanessa Hudson has said the airline expects non-stop Project Sunrise fares to command a premium of roughly 20% over the current one-stop Sydney–London route via Singapore. Qantas points to its Perth–London service as evidence that passengers will pay more to dispense with the connection.
“We do expect that we're going to get a premium,” she said earlier this year, putting that figure at around 20% on top of the one-stop fare.
Using October 2027 pricing as a guide, when the first Sunrise services are expected to take off, Executive Traveller ran the numbers and put first class suites on Qantas’ new A350s somewhere between $14,000 and $17,000 one-way, with return fares climbing to nearly $40,000 at the top end.
For that, passengers get one of just six suites on the aircraft, set behind 1.4-metre-high partitions, with a separate 22-inch reclining armchair, a proper two-metre lie-flat bed and a personal wardrobe. There’s also enough room to invite a travelling companion over for dinner at a table for two, which should make a useful dent in the flight time.
Qantas has long offered some of the best business class seats, and the A350’s Business Suites present a slightly more restrained splurge at around $22,000 return, albeit without the separate bed and private dining arrangement.
One-way fares average around $11,000, dipping a few thousand on a Saver ticket or climbing higher if Flex is all that’s left. The 52 Business Suites feature 47-inch walls and a sliding door for privacy, with a 25-inch-wide seat that converts into a two-metre bed.
Premium Economy sits at $3,600 to $6,000 one-way, with a 40-inch seat pitch, “privacy wings” and a 13.3-inch 4K screen. On a route this long, the extra room deserves serious consideration. Down the back, economy averages around $2,000 one-way, starting at $1,600 for a Saver fare, with 33 inches of pitch and the same screen and USB-C setup as premium economy, minus the additional width and wings.
For those who’d rather spend points than cash, redemption rates mirror those already offered for Sydney–London via Perth or Singapore: 227,800 points for a first class suite, 151,800 for business, 113,900 for premium economy or 58,900 for economy. Finding availability is likely to require considerably more patience than reading the redemption chart, particularly in a first class cabin with just six suites.
Whichever cabin you book, Project Sunrise puts a price on skipping the stopover. Whether that feels like money well spent may depend on how comfortably you can sleep through the hours previously broken up by a walk around Changi.