An Airbus A350-1000 operated by Qantas in a hangar at Sydney International Airport on May 2, 2022 (AFP/Wendell TEODORO)
Australian airline Qantas announced on Monday that it will launch the world’s first non-stop commercial flights linking Sydney with London and New York by the end of 2025.
It will order 12 Airbus A350-1000s for “Project Sunrise” flights to cities such as London and New York from Sydney by the end of 2025, Qantas said in a statement.
“New types of aircraft make new things possible,” Qantas chairman Alan Joyce said in a statement.
Thanks to “A350 and Project Sunrise”, “any city (will be) just one flight from Australia”, he added. “It is the final frontier and the definitive solution against the tyranny of distance”.
Qantas carried out test flights for long-haul flights in 2019, including a 17,750 kilometer London-Sydney test flight, which lasted 19 hours and 19 minutes.
The same year, a New York-Sydney test flight 16,200 km long lasted just over 19 hours.
Singapore Airlines currently operates the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight between Singapore and New York, which takes approximately 19 hours.
Qantas already operates a Perth-London route of 14,498 kilometers, which takes 17 hours.
– “Maximum comfort” –
“As you’d expect, the cabin is specially designed for maximum comfort for long-haul flights,” Joyce said.
Qantas said the new A350 plane would be configured for 238 passengers in total with first class offering a separate bed, recliner and wardrobe.
It promises more spacious economy sections and an area designed to “move, stretch and hydrate”.
At the same time, Qantas confirmed that it is also ordering 40 A321 XLR and A220 planes from Airbus. Additionally, the company has taken options to purchase another 94 of these aircraft through the end of 2034.
“The A320s and A220s will become the backbone of our national fleet for the next 20 years, helping to drive this country forward,” the airline’s president said.
The new plane would cut emissions by at least 15% if it ran on fossil fuels, and more if it used sustainable aviation fuel, he said.
“At the end of the pandemic we are a structurally different company”, underlined Alan Joyce. “Our domestic market share is higher and the demand for direct international flights is even stronger than it was before Covid.”
Qantas said the full cost of the deal was a matter of commercial confidence. He said he got a significant discount off the standard price of the device.
The A350-1000 planes will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 turbofan engines, designed to be 25% more fuel efficient than the previous generation of planes, Qantas said.
© 2022 AFP
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