Qantas said this would provide additional time to negotiate an industrial agreement without impacting the planned start date of Project Sunrise flights in the first half of 2023. According to Qantas, Airbus has agreed to extend the deadline to confirm delivery slots from February 2020 to March 2020. Qantas said no orders have been placed so far, but it would work closely with Airbus to prepare contract terms for up to 12 aircraft ahead of a final decision by the Qantas board. The airline added that Airbus will add an additional fuel tank and slightly increase the maximum takeoff weight to 'deliver the performance required for Sunrise routes'. The A350-1000 uses the Rolls Royce Trent XWB engine, which is used exclusively on the A350 and, according to the airline, has a 'strong reliability record' after being in service with airlines for more than two years. The Project Sunrise research flights are also being conducted to test ways to improve the health and wellbeing of passengers and crew on such ultra long-haul flights. The Australian flag carrier wants to be able to operate regular, non-stop commercial flights from the east coast of Australia to London and New York, and said today that it will now make a 'final go/no go decision' in March 2020 on whether to operate the flights. Qantas has selected Airbus' A350-1000 over Boeing's delayed 777X as the preferred aircraft for its ultra long-haul non-stop research flight programme, dubbed Project Sunrise, after making a 'detailed evaluation' of both aircraft types.

Qantas project sunrise 777x