Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson. Photo: Geoffrey Thomas
Qantas will likely use a North Pole route to achieve its Project Sunrise Sydney to London nonstop with the A350-1000 to be delivered in 2025. In an exclusive media round table ahead of the launch flight from Perth to Paris...
To read the full article, please log in or enter your email below:
Qantas will likely use a North Pole route to achieve its Project Sunrise Sydney to London nonstop with the A350-1000 to be delivered in 2025.
In an exclusive media round table ahead of the launch flight from Perth to Paris Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson said that the the airline's operations team that have been “flying the route” on a daily basis for the past year has found that often the North Pole route was quickest.
“It's been fascinating to actually see all of the different routes that we would take from Sydney [or Melbourne & Brisbane] to London. Some of those routes are north, over the North Pole rather than west over Europe. Lots of planning goes in, particularly for these long flights to make sure that we get it right, most efficient, but importantly that we can carry maximum payload. Depending on the season the winds favour the North Pole route as the quickest,” Ms Hudson said.
“We've this new system called Constellation, which is a flight planning system and tracks all of the winds globally, east, west, north, south. So we put Sydney-London into the simulation and it calculates, based on what we can see today, the best direction to go.”
That routing would be due north from Sydney over the western tip of Alaska or Canada across the North Pole and then south to London. However, for the return flight to Australia the more traditional route over Europe, India and Asia would be used.
Ms Hudson said that Qantas has two more A380s to be returned to service taking the fleet to 10 and these will come back into service early next year. When those two A380s rejoin the fleet they will free up other aircraft such as 787s and A330s and Ms Hudson said the airline is looking at Perth-Johannesburg and Perth-Auckland with the latter linking up with the airline’s Auckland-New York service.
Ms Hudson also highlighted Perth-Athens as a protentional season route. “Every person I speak to at the moment is going to Greece, but obviously again, when we have the aircraft, that is when we make the decisions on if and whether it's all round or seasonal.”
Ms Hudson said the airline was confident that the A350-1000s would be delivered mid 2026 which is six months late but there were still some concerns surrounding the supply chain for the suppliers of the seats for the 239-seat ultra-luxurious aircraft which will have more space for all classes including economy.
Last year Qantas ordered another 12 A350-1000s, 4 Boeing 787-9s and 8 787-10s but these will be delivered in a yet to be determined higher density configuration to replace the airline’s A380s and A330s.
Ms Hudson is upbeat on the another Airbus aircraft on order - the single airline A321neoXLRs which are due for delivery next year. “The range capability of those aircraft are enabling us to look at routes such as Canberra-Singapore and Adelaide-Singapore as well as Perth to India,” Ms Hudson said.
However, no announcements have yet been made on what routes the aircraft will pioneer or the configuration but the plan is to use them on domestic transcontinental routes to Perth and on international routes.
It’s likely the A321neoXLR will have a more spacious configuration and the standard A321neos.
The A321neo-XLR is part of the largest order ever placed by Qantas for the A350-1000, A320s, A321s and A220s. The A320 family and the A220s are replacing the airline’s long serving Boeing 737-800s and the Boeing 717s.
These new aircraft will give Qantas an unprecedented level of flexibility cutting costs and helping to keep airfares declining in relation to average weekly earnings.
Fly Across MRO has joined Embraer’s Authorised Service Centre Network for Executive Jets, providing base maintenance services for the Phenom…
LCR Embedded Systems has introduced the DK3HS-4, a four-slot VPX development platform designed to support 100Gb data rates (25Gb per…
Dedienne Aerospace has renewed its CFM LEAP tooling licence with CFM International for a further 10 years. The agreement extends…
FLUX GmbH (FLUX) has announced a new 300mm size option for its IND-MAX range of inductive angle encoders, designed for…
Orbit Communication Systems Ltd. has launched the MPT30Ka Deployable SATCOM System, a portable satellite communication terminal designed for rapid deployment…
AAR CORP. has entered into an exclusive distribution and licence agreement with BELAC LLC, a subsidiary of Chromalloy, for Parts…
Boeing's X-66 Sustainable Flight Demonstrator has completed two initial wind tunnel tests using scale models, a necessary step before a…
Assac Networks, a subsidiary of Aspis Cyber Technologies Inc., has secured a contract with a government authority in Asia to…
The U.S. Army’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) has acquired a THeMIS Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) from Milrem…
Muirhead has introduced BioPRO Foam, a protein-based aviation biofoam that is naturally fire-resistant. The patented material is made using hydrolysed…
Korean Air has introduced a new corporate value system as it commemorates its 56th anniversary. The initiative, called "KE Way,"…
Lockheed Martin has announced that the global fleet of F-35 aircraft has accumulated more than 1 million flight hours. The…
Three MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters underwent Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) flights in January as part of efforts to…
BAE Systems and Hamek have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by which they wili work together to support Norway’s…
Turkiye has offered Indonesia the opportunity to participate in the co-development and co-production of its domestically developed 5th-generation fighter jet,…
A Philippine Air Force (PAF) FA-50 fighter jet that went missing during a night operation has been located on Mount…
Singapore will procure two additional Type 218SG diesel-electric submarines, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen announced in a parliamentary statement on…
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) tested its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during Nankai Rescue 2024, a disaster response exercise led by…
Aselsan's GÖZDE Guidance Kit has made history by precisely striking a high-speed moving target during a test conducted with F-16…
Northrop Grumman and Hanwha have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in connection with South Korea's Mine Countermeasures Helicopter (KMCH)…
Lockheed Martin, Nokia and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) today announced the successful integration of Nokia's military-grade 5G solutions into Lockheed Martin's…
Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Pax River Integrated Test Force (ITF) recently completed an initial flight test integrating the Long…
The United States Air Force (USAF) has designated its new Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), being developed and built by General…
French water treatment company BIO-UV Group has dispatched a second BIO-SEA ballast water treatment system to the United States for…
Neutral Air Partner (NAP) has introduced NAPAY, a payment solution designed for its network members. The system was developed in…
DHL Group is expanding its electric vehicle (EV) logistics and supply chain solutions in the Asia Pacific region with the…
Air Astana will introduce a direct flight between Almaty and Da Nang, Vietnam, starting on 4th June 2025. The service…
Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin has handed over 700 Maung MV3 special vehicles, produced by PT Pindad, to the Indonesian…
Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin has handed over 700 Maung MV3 special vehicles, produced by PT Pindad, to the Indonesian…
AARONIA AG presented its latest advancements in drone detection and electronic warfare at Enforce Tac 2025, held in Nuremberg from…
Headquartered in Singapore with reporters spread across all major regions, GBP Aerospace & Defence is a leading media house that publishes three publications that serve the aerospace and defence sector - Asian Defence Technology, Asian Airlines & Aerospace and Daily News. Known industry-wide for quality journalism, GBP Aerospace & Defence is present at more international tradeshows and exhibitions than any other competing publication in the region.
For over three decades, our award-winning team of reporters has been producing top-notch content to help readers stay abreast of the latest developements in the field of commercial aviation, MRO, defence, and Space.
Copyright 2024. GBP. All Rights Reserved.
Home Defence & Security Space Commercial Aviation Maintence Repair & Overhaul Daily News Events About Us
2025 GBP all rights reserved.