Australian flag carrier Qantas doesn’t seem satisfied with their newly announced non-stop flight between Perth and London, set to commence in March, 2018.
On Friday August 25th, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce pushed all of his chips into the center of the figurative table. Joyce announced the airline’s desire to commence more ultra long-haul flights from Eastern Australia to various points in North America and Europe. Specifically, Joyce named Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane as potential origin hubs for these ultra long-haul flights.
This represents a huge development in non-stop ultra long-haul travel. A nonstop flight from Sydney to London would be blocked at over 20 hours (!!!), while a flight to New York from Australia’s East Coast Capital would be just over 18 hours. Currently, no jet in development has the “legs” to operate any of these proposed new Qantas routes, so the airline has issued a public challenge to the two largest aircraft manufacturers in the world to find a solution. The airline doesn’t want to sacrifice passenger numbers in order to increase an airplanes range.
The remarks by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce roughly translate to: “Build me my airplanes, and this is what we’ll do with them.”
Can Airbus and/or Boeing Deliver?
I think that depends. If the two airplane manufacturers can conceivably imagine a market for the ULR (Ultra Long Range) airplane beyond just the Aussie carrier; I think they make it happen.
Plus, I don’t think Airbus or Boeing would mind one of their aircraft having the title of “longest range in the world.” Have you seen the way Qantas has hyped up their incoming 787-9’s? They’ve been holding damn near hype party’s for it since 2015, and the first airplane isn’t even scheduled to enter service until 2018.
Comparables:
The closest thing we have seen to Airbus and Boeing entering the ULR game is the launch of Singapore Airline’s new routes to both Los Angeles and New York City. The airline had previously served the two cities with a pair of a340-500’s outfitted in an extremely light layout, although cancelled both services in 2013 citing an increase in fuel prices. The airline re-approached Airbus to develop a more fuel efficient way to serve the two cities, and the manufacturer delivered.
Airbus will be delivering a total of 7 fully custom A350-900ULR’s to SIA which will allow the airline to restart flights to both LA and NYC from its hub in Singapore. Note that these 7 aircraft are separate to the 60 standard A350-900’s which SIA will take from Airbus over the coming years, with completely different cabin layouts. The A350-900ULR’s will feature just 170 seats in a business class and premium economy setting. SIA is omitting economy on these aircraft, and thankfully wont be tempting people to torture themselves for that long of a flight in a standard seat. The regular A350-900’s that SIA intends to take from airbus will feature a total of 253 seats spread across business class, premium economy, and standard economy. Thats a reduction of 83 seats!
What Would This Mean for the Gulf Big 3?
Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar might be shaking in their boots right about now. An enormous portion of their business comes from transiting passengers to and from Australia. Seeing how the island nation is so remote, almost all flights to anywhere in North America (beyond California and DFW) and Europe require at least one stop. These three Gulf carriers have made billions of dollars making sure that stop is in their respective hub cities of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha.
Would this proposed new ULR airplane allow carriers to circumvent that stop between Europe/North America (excl. West Coast/DFW) and Australia?
If so, it could be a devastating blow to the Gulf 3’s bottom lines. (Although as long as they still dominate the transit of passengers to/from India, I think they’ll be fine).
To the Point!
This is an exciting Development not just for Qantas, but for Airbus and Boeing too. CEO Alan Joyce has just dangled quite a large carrot in front of the two airplane manufacturers’ noses, now we see if they bite… I would guess that the proposed airplane would be some type of variant of the Boeing 777X or the Airbus A350, unless the manufacturers can drum up a larger market for a brand new airplane.
I think the next step for Boeing and Airbus is securing a secondary market for the ULR aircraft. They know Qantas is all-in if they develop the plane, now they just need to find other operators. I can’t overstate how crucial this aspect is, especially if either manufacturer goes back to the drawing board and develops an entirely new plane.
Isn’t there another Airbus aircraft that is having an exceedingly hard time selling beyond one customer?
Would you take an 18-20 hour flight? Or Would You Prefer to Break A Long Trip (SYD-LHR) Into Two Segments?
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