Qantas pitches for London-Sydney direct

[JohnK]

Saw this news article for anyone that might be interested.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=72003

Qantas is reportedly holding negotiations to launch non-stop business-class flights between London and Sydney.

Boeing's 777-200 LR Worldliner aircraft last week broke the record for the longest flight by a commercial airliner, and has the capacity to link any two cities in the world.

However a non-stop flight from London to Sydney would be impossible with the full complement of 300 passengers as it would use up almost all its fuel, not having enough of a safety buffer required in case of diversion.

However the removal of 100 seats and the addition of three more fuel tanks would make the direct flight possible, hence the pitch at the business-class market.

A Qantas jumbo flew direct from Sydney to London in 1989, but there were no passengers.

Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Qantas was in talks with Boeing about the possibility of a non-stop flight.

Competition on the London-Sydney route is intense, meaning any airline that could offer quicker non-stop flights would get a big jump on rivals in the premium fare market.

It would also save Qantas money on landing fees en-route to Europe.

Boeing's rival Airbus has offered Qantas a long-range version of its A340-500 but that could carry only 120 passengers.

 

[oz_mark]

Not much good to me. I'd have to fly backwards for a few hours to get to Sydney.

Would they make it all business, or would it be more like a premium economy product

 

[JohnK]

Not much good to me. I'd have to fly backwards for a few hours to get to Sydney.

Would they make it all business, or would it be more like a premium economy product

Sounds like it business like product only, not sure if this includes premium economy or how it would compare to current business class fares, as they can't afford to have too many people on plane. Something to do with fuel usage.

 

[inpd]

A few of the U.S. carriers now have "premium only"
service aircrafts from NYC to LA such as united's
Premium Service.

The planes typically only contains seats spaced
at better than economy but worse than
business, excellent food and service.
Price is > economy but < business.

These have been very popular in the U.S.
and it would not surprise me if it becomes
a larger trend.

 

[albatross710]

Time savings

Would have to save a considerable amount of time.

Although some like to have the exercise enroute on the stop midway I'm sure many people woudl like to just get there faster.

How much time would be saved on the direct flight 5 hours?

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

I imagine would be something like Singapore's ultralonghaul flights SIN-LAX and SIN-EWR, ie economy plus and business plus.