Later in the day, a Qantas 787-9 will carry no more than 40 people from New York to Sydney, the first of three flights Qantas tested for the ambitious Sunrise Program.

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The purpose of the "Sunrise Plan" is to achieve direct flights between Australia's east coast cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to London and New York. Both Airbus and Boeing will participate in the challenge launched by Qantas. They have previously reported that they intend to compete with the A350-1000ULR and 777-8 respectively, but a senior Airbus executive recently said in an interview with the media that the existing A35K is There is no need to follow the A350-900 to add the extra-range A350-900ULR by adding additional fuel tanks. Airbus only needs to slightly increase the takeoff weight of the A35K in the future, and it can carry 375 people to cover more than 16,000 km (8700 nautical miles). According to the current A35K instructions given by Airbus, the model with a maximum takeoff weight of 316 tons can carry 366 people flying 15500 kilometers.

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This voyage can satisfy the voyage from Australia's east coast to New York, but it is not enough to support direct flights from Sydney to London (17016 km). However, there is a trade-off between the load of 375 people and the voyage of 16,000 kilometers. From the current A35K delivery, in addition to the low-cost airlines, economy class with 3-4-3 layout, Caribbean passengers with 429 passengers, no airline will design the cabin to a high density of 375 people. The A35K used by Qatar Airways, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Atlantic has 327, 331, 334 and 335 passengers respectively. Considering that Sydney and London will need to fly more than 20 hours in a row, Qantas is unlikely to adopt such a highly aggressive layout. Even such long-haul routes tend to have a higher proportion of high-class seats. It is estimated that if Qantas chooses the A35K, it may carry between 300-320 passengers.

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Less load means that the aircraft can fly farther with the same fuel, which is the same as the 787-9 with a full-load design of 14,140 kilometers and can carry only 40 people from New York to Sydney with a direct flight distance of 16013 kilometers. So it seems that the question now is how many people are Qantas ready to put on this long flight.