An Airbus A350-1000ULR spent 24 hours and 24 minutes in the air on a nonstop test flight from Australia to France, covering 14,388 miles (23,155 kilometers) to set a Guinness World Record for the longest flight by distance by a commercial airliner.

The Airbus-operated jet took off from Melbourne at 5:27 p.m. local time on July 27 and landed in Toulouse at 9:51 a.m. local time the following day. The International Aeronautical Federation and Flightradar24 independently validated the aircraft data used to establish the record.

Airbus flew the aircraft as part of its test campaign for Qantas’ Project Sunrise. The Australian carrier plans to use the ultra-long-range jet to fly nonstop from Sydney to London and New York, with flights lasting up to 22 hours.

The aircraft flew under the call sign AIB35LR. After leaving Melbourne, it passed over Sydney before turning northeast across the Pacific toward Los Angeles.

It crossed the International Date Line en route, continued across North America and flew over the Atlantic. The aircraft then passed over London before landing in Toulouse.

The route took the aircraft across three continents and two oceans. During the flight, the crew saw two sunsets and two sunrises.

Thirteen people were aboard, including three Airbus flight test pilots, two Qantas pilots and five Airbus flight test engineers. Two Airbus design engineers and a representative of the International Aeronautical Federation were also on board.

The test campaign called for one flight with a block time of 23 hours to simulate the longest commercial operations the aircraft is expected to handle.

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