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

[Quickstatus]

The announcement

 

[transpactraveller]

Tickets will go on sale in February 2027.

Timing is going to be pretty much the same as the existing QF1, departing Sydney mid-afternoon and arriving early morning in London. So might as well just stop over in Singapore really.

 

[tassie6]

If they don’t do the MEL flights maybe they could upgrade at least one of PER-LHR and AKL-JFK to Sunrise aircraft to take more passengers (assuming they get the full 12 in Sunrise configuration).

There are only 2 extra seats on the Sunrise birds (238) vs the 789 (236)

 

[moa999]

So it sounds like
October 2027 3 aircraft Syd - London daily
November 2027 +2 - Add Syd - NY 5/6x wk
1H 2028 - NY to daily, switch Per- LHR

Another factor behind London might be the Rugby World Cup which runs 1 Oct to 13 Nov and will have a lot of Europeans coming in particularly for finals.

 

[qf17]

presumably the inaugural will be the ?25 October when the IATA seasons change over and Qf take back the LHR slots they'll lease to BA for the northern summer?

 

[LondonAussie]

Timing is going to be pretty much the same as the existing QF1, departing Sydney mid-afternoon and arriving early morning in London. So might as well just stop over in Singapore really.

Ugh, really? The reason I avoided QF9 was because it’s scheduled to land at LHR at 4:55am and often landed around 4:30am.

This is suggesting the Sunrise flight is going to take QF9’s stupid o’clock LHR landing slot.

 

[qf17]

re QF's LHR slot they'll use...is it time bound? ie a scheduled arrival time between 6am - 8am? cos we'll be able to work out near the exact schedule that way.
I can see an 1800-1900 ETD from SYD arrival 0600-0700ish into LHR to be close to ideal anyway. Picks up traffic post-work day in SYD and before start of work-day in LHR
and if they're trying to just use 3 aircraft to run a daily SYD-LHR rotation; they'll prob need the return LHR-SYD to turnaround pretty quick ?

 

[transpactraveller]

presumably the inaugural will be the ?25 October when the IATA seasons change over and Qf take back the LHR slots they'll lease to BA for the northern summer?

Do we know what timing their BA-leased slots are for?
We know they currently have LHR landing slots for 5am and 6:30am and departures at 12pm and 9pm

Sydney's curfew will limit the windows they can use

 

[justinbrett]

Tickets will go on sale in February 2027.

Timing is going to be pretty much the same as the existing QF1, departing Sydney mid-afternoon and arriving early morning in London. So might as well just stop over in Singapore really.

Unless they’re going to hold for 3-4 hours in the air, it must be closer to a 6pm departure if they don’t want to arrive at 3am. Even later in the Australian summer.

 

[dajop]

Do we know what timing their BA-leased slots are for?
We know they currently have LHR landing slots for 5am and 6:30am and departures at 12pm and 9pm

Sydney's curfew will limit the windows they can use

Yeh a 9pm departure would not be possible with SYD curfew whether it’s winter or summer.

 

[SYD]

Yeh a 9pm departure would not be possible with SYD curfew whether it’s winter or summer.

WSI, here we go!

 

[LondonAussie]

Are they going to keep Perth-London once Sunrise launches?

 

[SYD]

Are they going to keep Perth-London once Sunrise launches?

Yes.

They’re considering using some PS planes on that route in lieu of MEL-LHR direct. Not stated but maybe MEL-PER-LHR again?

 

[qf17]

Yes.

They’re considering using some PS planes on that route in lieu of MEL-LHR direct. Not stated but maybe MEL-PER-LHR again?

i read that. i wonder why that is. maybe anticipated demand not as strong for a direct mel-lhr link ?

 

[FSM-2024]

i read that. i wonder why that is. maybe anticipated demand not as strong for a direct mel-lhr link ?

Definitely looks like QF is gearing towards PER/SYD hubs, MEL is unlikely to get any direct links.

 

[transpactraveller]

Yeh a 9pm departure would not be possible with SYD curfew whether it’s winter or summer.

They could do a midday departure from London arriving into Sydney early evening.

But Qantas seem to avoid having any evening long-haul arrivals into Sydney.

So for a quick turnaround they might go with a 5am landing at LHR, then around 8am departure for LHR-SYD which would get to SYD around 2-3pm?

 

[SYD]

i read that. i wonder why that is. maybe anticipated demand not as strong for a direct mel-lhr link ?

Actually, similarly it could be cool if the AKL-JFK was replaced by a PS plane ex MEL also.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hmmm… those folk in MEL would be better off flying SQ F with one stop than taking QF via SYD? I can’t see MEL being left out of this loop in terms of people willing to pay to fill premium cabins?

 

[qf17]

i can see schedule looking like during the summer:
2000ish SYD | 0700ish LHR
1000ish LHR | 1700ish SYD
to try get round curfews etc.

 

[SYD]

Hmmm… those folk in MEL would be better off flying SQ F with one stop than taking QF via SYD? I can’t see MEL being left out of this loop in terms of people willing to pay to fill premium cabins?

What about one stop via PER?

Besides, you’ve already got QF F tickets on EK metal.