Qantas Project Sunrise & A350-1000ULR Discussion

[Cycha]

Ooh, lovely!

 

[nancypants]

Qantas says Midway Atoll closure could affect Project Sunrise

Qantas warns losing Midway Atoll as an ETOPS alternate could add 20 minutes and 2,200kg of fuel to future Project Sunrise flights to London.

aerosouthpacific.com

“Ultra-long-haul flights between Sydney and London operated by Qantas under its Project Sunrise banner may take even longer if Midway Atoll Airport (MDY) is no longer available as an Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards (ETOPS) alternate airport.

The airline says a United States Government proposal to let the rarely used but strategically important airport run down and lose its (Part 139 standard) ETOPS certification could add approximately 20 minutes of flying time to an already marathon flight.”

 

[Quickstatus]

Maybe QF should fork out some $$$ to make Midway viable?.

 

[mviy]

Maybe QF should fork out some $$$ to make Midway viable?.

QF is not a charity.

 

[Quickstatus]

QF is not a charity.

It expects others to be - why should the USGovt pay to facilitate the business case for PS?

 

[transpactraveller]

Qantas says Midway Atoll closure could affect Project Sunrise

Qantas warns losing Midway Atoll as an ETOPS alternate could add 20 minutes and 2,200kg of fuel to future Project Sunrise flights to London.

aerosouthpacific.com

“Ultra-long-haul flights between Sydney and London operated by Qantas under its Project Sunrise banner may take even longer if Midway Atoll Airport (MDY) is no longer available as an Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards (ETOPS) alternate airport.

The airline says a United States Government proposal to let the rarely used but strategically important airport run down and lose its (Part 139 standard) ETOPS certification could add approximately 20 minutes of flying time to an already marathon flight.”

This would only impact the polar route which QF say they'll only use about 20% of the time.

 

[nancypants]

2 interesting and possibly related factoids:
Until 2008, MDY was subsidised by Boeing- perhaps Airbus could step up?
Also the tourism program has been suspended since 2012 so there is little direct incentive to upgrade the strip

 

[Human]

A couple of other interesting tidbits in the OMAAT article: the atoll has a human population of 40, and there have been no commercial flights there since 2002.

Midway Atoll's Airport Has No Flights, But Its Closure Could Disrupt Airlines Worldwide

Midway Atoll Airport faces closure without $100 million in repairs, threatening ETOPS diversion routes and Qantas's Project Sunrise flights across the Pacific.

onemileatatime.com

 

[elanshin]

I suspect Qantas is making a bigger deal out of it than it really will be for them. It's really just the ideal polar route that will be affected and really just a minor economics hit.

That said, even going eastbound they may not necessarily even need MDY. If the winds were like how they were during test flight, they could stay further south before turning north. Either through continental US or closer to HNL.

And then all the news and bloggers want a clickbait headline and here we are.

 

[leesionn]

MSN 859 (4th A350-1000) rear fuselage section was spotted in XFW the other day.