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Airbus A350-1000 at Sydney Airport: The longest non-stop flight should be included in the route plan
Photo: Bianca De Marchi / dpa
The Australian airline calls it "Project Sunrise": Qantas wants to add the longest non-stop flights in the world to its route network by the end of 2025.
In around 19 hours, they will initially connect Australian metropolises on the east coast such as Sydney and Melbourne with London and New York.
To this end, the company has ordered new aircraft: twelve Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.
Qantas announced that other cities such as Frankfurt and Paris could also be connected directly to destinations Down Under in the future.
Deliveries of the long-haul aircraft will begin in 2025 and be completed by 2028.
Airline CEO Alan Joyce has finally found a solution to the "tyranny of distance" that has traditionally made travel to Australia so difficult.
The new generation of aircraft types will open up completely different possibilities in the future.
Corona messed up plans
Qantas had already tested the approximately 17,700-kilometer direct connection from London to Sydney at the end of 2019 with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
The flight lasted 19 hours and 19 minutes.
The route was actually supposed to be included in the program as early as 2022, but the plan had to be postponed due to the corona pandemic and the long border closures.
Test flights for the 16,200-kilometer route from New York to Sydney have already been completed.
The longest non-stop flight that Qantas has ever offered covers the almost 14,500 kilometers from Perth in Western Australia to London and takes 17 hours.
Singapore Airlines offers the longest commercial non-stop flight to date on the Singapore-New York route.
Passengers spend a little less than 19 hours on board this approximately 16,700-kilometer flight.
Passengers should have more space
In view of the long flight times on the new direct flights from Qantas, Airline boss Joyce promised special equipment for the Airbus machines, which should be able to accommodate 238 passengers.
There will be four classes - First, Business, Premium Economy, Economy.
In the first-class area there will be suites with a separate bed, easy chair and a closet, said the company boss.
But there will also be more space in Economy Class, which will be created as a "feel-good area" in which there will be opportunities to move and stretch.
Qantas expects profit again
The Australian airline has ordered a total of 52 aircraft from the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.
In addition to the twelve A350-1000 Airbuses for continental flights, 40 short-haul aircraft have also been ordered to modernize its domestic fleet, Qantas said.
In addition, a purchase option for a further 94 aircraft has been secured.
"The board's decision to approve the largest aircraft order in Australian aviation is a clear vote of confidence in the future of the Qantas Group," said CEO Joyce.
Demand for domestic flights will return to pre-pandemic levels faster than expected.
For the fiscal year beginning July 1, Qantas expects to return to profitability.
mmq/Reuters/dpa/AFP
