Australian airline Qantas says it wants to introduce nonstop flights between Sydney and London and will choose between the Boeing 777X and Airbus A350-900 to fly this ultra-long-haul route. It’s challenging the plane makers to tweak the designs to handle this extra range.
Australian airline Qantas said it wants to introduce nonstop flights between Sydney and London in 2022 and will choose between Boeing’s new 777-8X and Airbus’ A350-900 to fly this ultra-long-haul route.
At a Sydney news conference Friday morning in Australia, Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said the airline has asked Airbus and Boeing to deliver versions of those aircraft capable of flying regular nonstop between southeastern Australia and Europe with a full passenger load — routes that require one intermediate stop today.
“I have written to the CEOs of Boeing and Airbus to extend the challenge to them,” Joyce said, citing not only the longest of his routes, Sydney-London, but other ultra-long-haul routes, including Brisbane-Paris and Melbourne-New York.
“This is a last frontier in global aviation, the antidote to the tyranny of distance, and a revolution for air travel in Australia,” he added.
A direct flight would cut up to four hours of travel time off the journey from Sydney to London.
Qantas is now positioned to make a big jet order after a recovery of its financial health. After a massive loss in 2014, Qantas laid off thousands of employees in a restructuring over the past three years. Joyce on Friday announced a profit for the past year of $933 million.
Whichever of the two ultra-long-haul planes Qantas chooses, they will join the Airbus A380 superjumbo jets currently in its fleet and Boeing 787 Dreamliners set for delivery within the next year.
Thursday’s challenge is an invitation to the rival plane makers to tweak their designs for extra range in an attempt to win Qantas’ business.
For Boeing’s sales team, the goal will be to maintain the jet maker’s long-standing relationship with Qantas, which has flown 747 jumbo jets for more than four decades.
YAHOO!
