Qantas puts Project Sunrise, A350 order on hold

[DavidFlynn]

Bloody coronavirus once again spoils all the fun (well, assuming you thought an 18-20hr non-stop flight could be categorised as 'fun'.)

Qantas non-stop London, New York flights on track for 2026

The Red Roo’s first ultra-long-range A350 flights are expected to lift off in the back half of 2026.

www.executivetraveller.com

 

[kamchatsky]

Well with the Coronavirus, Project Sunrise On Hold is least of Qantas' worries.

Looking at the cases and graphs of other countries we have no idea when international travel will actually start again. Numbers in USA and Europe still does not look good.

 

[p--and--t]

If you were working your butt off on how to keep the company together in this maelstrom and come out the other side not going into receivership and maybe less than 50% of your previous passenger loads, then there isn't really any other decision to be made regarding a proposed multi-billion dollar capex purchase.

An announcement probably wasn't really necessary LOL

 

[DavidFlynn]

If you were working your butt off on how to keep the company together in this maelstrom and come out the other side not going into receivership and maybe less than 50% of your previous passenger loads, then there isn't really any other decision to be made regarding a proposed multi-billion dollar capex purchase.
An announcement probably wasn't really necessary LOL

It's almost certainly the right call from a Whopping Great Capex perspective, and also given the vast unknown that is the post-coronavirus travel landscape. However, notable that Qantas didn't 'announce' it per se – via usual channels of a press release, in a speech or some such – Alan shared it during a media call Q&A this morning, and only in direct response to my question on Sunrise and the A380s. And I'd venture that it was useful and almost necessary for him to make this known, to give 'the market' yet another reassuring sign of confidence in how Qantas is handling this, because you're 110% right, this is time for tightening belts and being strategic in fwd planning, not lashing out for new planes in a $4bn+ spend.