Qantas Project Sunrise goes ahead, 12 new A350-1000s ordered

[jrfsp]

These ULH routes are expensive to operate and QF must be hoping fuel prices will come down by launch date otherwise the economics might not stack up.

 

[SYD]

I wonder if they’ll renumber QF1/2 (via SIN) a season before they launch the sunrise flights? I bit like how HNL got renumbered to 103/104 before they launched the new JFK (via AKL) flights.

Absolutely. I’d expect QF31/32 for the SYD-SIN-LHR flights.

And SYD-JFK will probably pinch QF3/4 (so a renumbering coming for SYD-AKL-JFK.

 

[mviy]

However I think until SYD sunrise is daily, the via SIN service will stay numbered from SYD.

Waiting for 3 aircraft before starting Sunrise flights suggests they intend to launch the routes with daily flights.

 

[mviy]

But MEL will get their own sunrise flights in time, so long term would make sense for the flight number to go from BNE (so they can say they have direct flights to all big 4 cities), but I’d expect the actual (larger) aircraft to go from SYD and switch to the LHR flight in SIN. They used to do this on the LAX-JFK segment, flight number came from SYD but aircraft came from BNE.

As much as I would love SIN-LHR to remain an A380 flight to increase chances of J/F seat releases, I do think it would likely change to a 787 flight from BNE or possibly an A350 without the extra fuel tank.

If Sunrise exceeds QF’s expectations and they add BNE-LHR Sunrise flights that would raise questions as to whether SIN-LHR flights disappear entirely unless there is a disruption forcing a stop in SIN.

 

[transpactraveller]

I do wonder if they'll struggle to sell the economy seats for the 22 hour London flight. I think many would prefer a stop in SIN.

 

[moa999]

think many would prefer a stop in SIN

The majority flying SYD-LHR will still stop in SIN, KUL, DXB, DOH, AUH, HKG, etc....

Qantas only needs a small percentage of people willing to pay a bit extra for not stopping and getting 33" pitch for the flight to be successful.

I actually wonder whether they might market the whole back of plane as Economy Plus given the minimum 33" pitch.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I actually wonder whether they might market the whole back of plane as Economy Plus given the minimum 33" pitch.

They should absolutely do this. I'm honestly surprised that airlines haven't moved to a more premium model for long haul flights. The market for bare minimum pricing even if this means a shoebox for 10+hrs seems to be there!

 

[AIRwin]

I'm honestly surprised that airlines haven't moved to a more premium model for long haul flights.

SQ?

 

[dajop]

They should absolutely do this. I'm honestly surprised that airlines haven't moved to a more premium model for long haul flights. The market for bare minimum pricing even if this means a shoebox for 10+hrs seems to be there!

JL seems to offer a premium long haul economy product. But I'd guess that it's a careful balance, if you make the economy cabin too much better it may reduce people's willingness to pay 2.5x (or whatever the multiple is) for PE.

 

[SeatBackForward]

SQ?

Isn't that just the SIN<>NYC route?

I mean more broadly, there surely is an opportunity for an airline with a business model of premium seating exclusively for long haul. But then again, I'm no aviation economics expert and I'll assume the airlines are!

 

[AIRwin]

Isn't that just the SIN<>NYC route?

And SFO

 

[Chrizztofa]

They should absolutely do this. I'm honestly surprised that airlines haven't moved to a more premium model for long haul flights. The market for bare minimum pricing even if this means a shoebox for 10+hrs seems to be there!

On a related note I've wondered why airlines just go with the standard 3-3-3 in economy, when they could consider something with 2-5-2 alternating with 2-4-2, giving long haul economy passengers more choice.

That way the middle seat in the block of 5 could have extra pitch (but not extra width) and the block of 4 could have extra width (but not extra pitch).

For example:
39: AB CDEFG HK
40: AB CDFG HK
41: AB CDEFG HK
42: AB CDFG HK
etc.

They could then market it as:

• Window pairs (AB / HK): Standard 18" width, 32" pitch, good for couples
• Middle seats in block of 4 (CDFG - no E seat): 20-21" width, 32" pitch with potential wider armrests or side table for drinks / phone charging
• Outer four seats in the block of 5 (CD & FG next to E): Standard 18" width, 32" pitch
• Middle seat in block of 5 (E seat): 18" width, angled lay flat, good for tall people or parents with kids who can alternate rest