July 2026 landed two remarkable Flightradar24 milestones. First came the busiest day of commercial traffic we have ever tracked, with more than 153,000 flights in just 24 hours. Five days later, nearly 3.7 million people followed an Airbus A350-1000ULR as it completed a record-breaking journey from Melbourne to Toulouse.
The two records showcase the opposite ends of the flight tracking experience: hundreds of thousands of flights moving around the world on a single day, and millions of people coming together to track one extraordinary flight.
Our busiest commercial day ever
On Thursday, 23 July, Flightradar24 tracked 153,359 commercial flights—the most we have ever tracked in one day.
The previous year’s same day of the week figure (Thursday, 24 July 2025) was 144,806. The 2026 record represents a 5.9% year-over-year increase.
Daily tracking statistics
According to our flight tracking statistics, Flightradar24 tracked 287,364 total flights on 23 July, making it the second-busiest day in our history when all categories of traffic are included. The busiest day in the Flightradar24 skies occurred on 8 April 2026, with a total of 289,586 tracked flights.
The difference between commercial and total flights
Our commercial flights count includes commercial passenger, cargo and charter flights, along with some business jet operations. The total flight figure also incorporates the remainder of business aviation, private flights, gliders, most helicopter and air ambulance flights, government flights, some military flights and drones.
Late July is often one of the busiest periods of the year for air travel. Airlines are operating their peak Northern summer schedules, with school holidays and seasonal demand producing high levels of traffic across North America, Europe and Asia. In 2026, that annual peak pushed the number of commercial flights tracked by Flightradar24 to a new high.
Just a few days after setting the commercial flight tracking record, attention shifted from all commercial flights to a single aircraft.
On 27 July, Airbus A350-1000ULR test aircraft F-WULR departed Melbourne at 07:28 UTC. It then took the long way home, flying east across the Pacific, North America and the Atlantic before arriving at Airbus’ home base in Toulouse at 07:52 UTC on 28 July, touching down 24 hours, 24 minutes after takeoff.
The flight covered 12,460 nautical miles, or 23,075.92 kilometers. While not yet certified, the flight likely set a new record for the greatest distance flown nonstop by a commercial aircraft, surpassing the record set by a Boeing 777-200LR in 2005 when it flew eastbound from Hong Kong to London.
As the A350 crossed oceans, continents and time zones, people around the world followed its progress on Flightradar24. By the time the aircraft arrived in Toulouse, the flight had accumulated 3,652,947 follows, making it the second-most-tracked flight in Flightradar24 history.
Only the final flight of Queen Elizabeth II, followed by more than 5 million people across the Flightradar24 website, app, and live stream in September 2022, attracted a larger audience.
The flight from Melbourne to Toulouse also surpassed its own previous flight in the rankings. The preceding journey from Toulouse to Melbourne, completed in 19 hours and 12 minutes, accumulated 2,972,670 follows and is now the third-most-tracked flight of all time.
Why fly home the “wrong” way?
The A350-1000ULR is being developed for Qantas’ Project Sunrise, which will connect Australia’s east coast nonstop with London and New York. The specially modified aircraft carries additional fuel and is designed for missions lasting approximately 20 hours.
The Melbourne–Toulouse flight formed part of Airbus’ certification flight test program. It was designed to test the aircraft and its systems during an exceptionally long mission while demonstrating that a block time of more than 23 hours was possible. Along the way, the flight also passed over Sydney and London airports, as well as the factory where the aircraft’s engines are built.
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