Travel News

Key Points

• Qantas plans to start selling tickets on its first New York to Sydney nonstop flight next August.
• The carrier is already planning to launch an even longer flight, between London and Sydney, next October.
• The Australian airline plans to use new Airbus A350-1000 ULR, or ultra-long range, jets that are equipped with an extra fuel tank for the marathon flight.

Qantas Airways plans to start selling seats on its first nonstop between New York and Sydney next August, with flights set to launch in 2028, as the Australian carrier fills out the details for another marathon route with a special Airbus plane.

The route will take about 18 hours, which puts it close to what is currently the world’s longest flight. The route that has that designation right now, nonstop service on Singapore Airlines from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Singapore, can top 19 hours.

But Qantas is set to take the crown next fall when it debuts nonstops between London Heathrow and Sydney that take about 20 hours. Flight times vary based on direction and time of year.

Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson told CNBC that the new flights come after strong demand for another ultra-long-haul route: its Perth, Australia, to London service, which is more than 17 hours and is flown on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

“What we have been able to learn from that is that there is absolutely a customer who wants this and is prepared to pay a premium for it,” she said in an interview in New York, adding that travelers are trying to avoid having to connect in other airports.

The Qantas Airbus A350-1000 ULR, which stands for ultra-long range, will be equipped with first class, business class, premium economy and standard economy cabins. Those aircraft have an extra fuel tank for the trip.

Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, operates its New York to Singapore flight with only business class and premium economy seats.

As part of its ultra-long-haul program, which it calls Project Sunrise, Qantas spent years working with sleep scientists to study jet lag. Hudson said the carrier has looked at ways to minimize the effects of traveling long distances by using things like different lighting schemes so customers can get used to the time zone at their destination.

The co-pilot of a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv is believed to have stabbed the captain in a possible attempted “terror attack” on Wednesday, forcing the plane to divert to Saudi Arabia where it landed safely, three Israeli officials said.

They said the cabin crew entered the cockpit and took control of flydubai flight FZ1073 from the United Arab Emirates to Israel, which diverted to Saudi Arabia as it flew over Jordanian airspace. One of the officials identified the attacker as an Omani national.

An Israeli official had earlier told Reuters the plane transmitted emergency signals after the pilots got into a physical altercation with each other.

The aircraft’s data appeared to show that it had suddenly and rapidly descended by nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before a first emergency signal was sent, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

Around the time the plane landed in Saudi Arabia, Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office, told Reuters the incident was not believed to have been a hijacking, describing it as a “different incident”.

He did not immediately respond to a further request for comment on whether Israel was treating it as a “terror incident”.

The Israeli officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to brief reporters, said Israel’s current assessment is that the incident was an attempted “terror attack” and not related to any kind of mental health issue with either of the pilots.

Omani authorities and the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Both pilots hospitalized, Tabuk Airport says

In a video purportedly of an Israeli passenger on board the flydubai flight and carried widely by Israeli media, the passenger said one of pilots was seriously injured and the other was slightly injured, after one of the pilots was stabbed.

Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport, where the plane landed, said that both pilots had been hospitalised after sustaining injuries. Neither the airport nor the purported Israeli passenger identified the attacker.

The flight transmitted a general emergency signal and then another emergency signal that indicated possible unlawful interference, according to Flightradar24.

The Boeing 737 plane, which Israeli media said had around 150 Israeli passengers on board, then again transmitted the initial general emergency signal before later landing at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, the website said.

It was not immediately clear who transmitted the emergency signals.

KARIM SAHIB | AFP | Getty Images

The incident heightened security fears in Israel weeks before Israelis vote in the first election since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, with Israel’s security figuring prominently in the campaigning.

Responding to the incident on X, far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote “terrorism is a devil with whom no agreement must be reached”.

Conflicting reports appear in media, Israel holds security consultations

Israeli media published conflicting reports on the incident, with some outlets reporting that a pilot had tried to crash the passenger plane in an alleged suicide attempt. Some Israeli media outlets identified the pilots as Omani and Emirati nationals, while others said they were Russian and Ukrainian.

The incident triggered national security consultations in Israel, which has no official diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed.

In an earlier statement, the Israeli prime minister’s office said the situation was “under control” and that all measures were being taken to bring the Israeli passengers back to Israel.

Netanyahu who had held security consultations on the incident, has cleared his schedule for the rest of the day to manage the crisis, an Israeli official said.

Netanyahu on Sunday met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a a rare visit to the Gulf country. Israel and the UAE have forged close security, military and economic ties since establishing diplomatic ties in 2020.

Earlier this year, Israel provided the UAE with Iron Dome air-defence systems and Israeli personnel to operate them, helping defend against Iranian attacks launched after Israel and the United States began strikes on Iran.

The UAE has yet to comment on the incident, while the Dubai-owned airline has only said that the flight experienced an “incident” and diverted to Tabuk, where it landed safely, and that all passengers were safe and accounted for.

Passenger reportedly witnessed pilot forced to the floor by man holding a knife

Yasmin Abukasis said her daughter Miriam, who was among the passengers on the flight, had told her that she had heard screaming and that a man holding a knife had forced one of the pilots onto the floor, and that there was blood everywhere.

Israeli media published a photo purportedly taken from inside the plane, which appeared to show a passenger’s blood-soaked shirt. Reuters could not immediately verify the image.

Flydubai operates daily return flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv, a route that is popular among Israeli nationals. The flight path normally uses airspace over Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

It is not the first time a flight between Israel and the UAE has landed in Saudi Arabia. A flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Riyadh in September 2025 due to a medical incident, Israeli media reported at the time.