Qantas non-stop flights from New York to Sydney: Final Project Sunrise test flight touches down

The last of Qantas' ultra-long haul Project Sunrise flights has touched down in Sydney, after an epic non-stop journey from New York.

Project Sunrise is Qantas' plan to have the airline flying non-stop from Australia's eastern capitals to London and New York by 2022. It became the first airline to launch non-stop flights to Britain when its Perth-London route took off in March 2018.

At 19 hours, 31 minutes, flight QF7879 was the longest of the three test flights - 17 minutes longer than the previous New York flight and 12 minutes longer than the test flight from London to Sydney.

Prior to taking off from New York, Qantas unveiled the name of the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner performing the test flight - Gangurru, an indigenous word from north Queensland for kangaroo.

During the previous two Project Sunrise flights, the small number of passengers on board were asked to modify their sleep and behaviour patterns with exercise, food and light exposure.

Researchers from Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre then monitored passengers to track sleep patterns and eating habits.

This final test flight did not feature the same changes in routine, with passengers experiencing a standard Qantas service experience on board. This provided "control" data for researchers to measure against the previous two flights.

While Qantas used new Dreamliners to carry out the test flights, the plane will not be capable of flying the distances involved when fully laden with passengers and cargo.