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

[Quickstatus]

Literally nothing has changed for Melbourne.

The suggestion is that is the problem for a major capital city. Changes for Syd but no changes for MEL notwithstanding any previous announcements/rumours.

 

[justinbrett]

Depends on how you draw the boundary. Greater Sydney > Greater Melbourne.

Just wait until Brisbane is reclassified to include the Gold Coast - we're coming for both of you! The green belt is already gone.

Although seriously, there is talk of SEQ being rebranded as Greater Brisbane for the 2032 Olympics.

 

[levelnine]

Literally nothing has changed for Melbourne.

That's incorrect.

PS was pitched as a SYD/MEL project by QF.

Today's announcement states it is now a SYD/PER project.

 

[stm1sydney]

Sunrise flights will be used by corporates, of which most are in Sydney

There are still 140 Y seats to fill, and surely corporates aren't going to put their staff in those?

 

[jase05]

Not sure how much freight they will get on these. TBH, many others... are surprised Airbus even managed to get the extra tank to work.....

There will be enough and at a very Premium price. Getting inundated with requests for months

 

[AuSammy]

There are still 140 Y seats to fill, and surely corporates aren't going to put their staff in those?

There will possibly be the people like me who absolutely despite waiting at airports, queuing for boarding, queuing to deplane, the whole “security pantomime” farce and thus eliminating another transit annoyance by flying direct.

There will also be the smattering of a sick relative or funeral people have to get to in a hurry among other scenarios.

 

[mviy]

There are still 140 Y seats to fill, and surely corporates aren't going to put their staff in those?

Some corporates do not allow more than Y or may push for Y to be used if the travel budget is running low.

 

[VHOEJ]

You don't arrive in LHR any earlier due to the LHR slot. The LHR slots play a huge role in the schedule.

 

[lovestotravel]

There are still 140 Y seats to fill, and surely corporates aren't going to put their staff in those?

Depends on how big the business is, ours is J for anything over 7 hours, and we should use the lowest quoted fare but we have to use a preferred supplier (QF).... but if there are cheaper J fares that take longer we have to use those. So technically, Sunrise is out for us, without ExCo approval..

QF is great at marketing, and that's all this really is. How long have we heard about these flights ?
Melbourne has been dumped for these flights, and that will be left to SQ/EK/QR to continue to clean up

 

[moa999]

You don't arrive in LHR any earlier due to the LHR slot. The LHR slots play a huge role in the schedule.

Agreed.
Currently QF has
0630 used by QF1
0505 used by QF9/219

Read a comment (I think on airliners) that at least one of the slots is a similar 0630 time..

So I could imagine Sunrise being a 1800 SYD departure arriving 0630 LHR.
Then you swap the PER and SYD aircraft, with QF10 retaining its 1150 departure to PER

Sunrise departs say 0930 LHR arriving SYD 1430 or so. (Assuming QF thinks a morning LHR departure will work)

This you can operate SYD and PER to LHR daily with 4 aircraft, admittedly with limited recovery options for delays.

 

[Melburnian1]

There we go. QF has decided to cede the premium market out of MEL to other carriers.

It makes Sunrise a far more underwhelming concept being non-stop on only two routes.

Also, it's very funny to see people thinking they stand a chance at getting a classic reward seat on these flights in a premium cabin lol.

While we all appreciate airlines chase yield per available seat, it beggars belief that Qantas has decided that what will soon be Australia's largest (populated) city, Melbourne, is to again miss out.

Qantas' "success" shows on routes like MEL-SIN where SQ has five daily frequencies in each direction, a huge uplift on what QFi offers. The market has spoken!

The saving of c.four hours may be attractive to a small section of the SYD-LHR market but most passengers will continue to have a stopover/quick break in SIN, KUL, MNL, HND/NRT, ICN, BKK, IST and so on.

QFi again shows it's a Sydney-based and focused airline, despite Melbourne having many premium class passengers 365 days a year. If this wans't so, SQ and other competitors wouldn't be filling so many business class seats out of and into MEL, and even a few first class ones on the declining number of airlines that offer this option.

Project Sunrise: a technical achievement but overhyped to buggery.

 

[lovestotravel]

Project Sunrise: a technical achievement but overhyped to buggery.

Because QF

 

[levelnine]

While we all appreciate airlines chase yield per available seat, it beggars belief that Qantas has decided that what will soon be Australia's largest (populated) city, Melbourne, is to again miss out.

It makes sense from QF's perspective. To Europe, they're most competitive out of PER and SYD. They just aren't that competitive out of MEL. It's a different story for the US where they're more competitive out of the East Coast cities. It doesn't surprise me at all that the first A350 out of MEL might be to DFW rather than LHR.

On a personal level, I'm very happy with this announcement. There are far superior alternatives out of MEL to Europe than QF. And I'd very much welcome the ability to fly F on more routes to the US out of MEL where there are fewer superior alternatives.

 

[SYD]

It makes sense from QF's perspective. To Europe, they're most competitive out of PER and SYD. They just aren't that competitive out of MEL. It's a different story for the US where they're more competitive out of the East Coast cities. It doesn't surprise me at all that the first A350 out of MEL might be to DFW rather than LHR.

On a personal level, I'm very happy with this announcement. There are far superior alternatives out of MEL to Europe than QF. And I'd very much welcome the ability to fly F on more routes to the US out of MEL where there are fewer superior alternatives.

‘Hudson stressed that “the A350 is going to be an aircraft that serves Melbourne, because we know that's an incredibly important market and premium market for us.”’

So MEL will see a four class PS aircraft to the US, but maybe not JFK as early as thought. Surely that’s a win? Better cabins, shorter flight.

 

[Doctore1003]

Re pricing. Noted this line in the ET article:

“Hudson has also clarified pricing, saying fares on the non-stop Sunrise flights would be equivalent to Perth-London and Sydney-Auckland-New York, which themselves carry a roughly 20% premium over the Qantas alternatives.”

 

[levelnine]

So MEL will see a four class PS aircraft to the US, but maybe not JFK as early as thought. Surely that’s a win? Better cabins, shorter flight.

It is for me, as I said.

Though as others have said, it shows 'Project Sunrise' is mostly hype. 12 new aircraft to launch two new routes.

The other new routes they'll be launching are with 787s.

 

[TeaKozy]

So MEL will see a four class PS aircraft to the US, but maybe not JFK as early as thought. Surely that’s a win? Better cabins, shorter flight.

An A350 maybe, but QF are also ordering 3 class configs. We'll see.

Do also find the comment from Hudson amusing, given MEL-DFW is longer than MEL-AKL-JFK - “We’ve actually got some pretty long range flying now — Perth–London and Auckland–JFK — and the plan is to use the A350s on some of those routes”. Glad to see us Mexicans are front of mind.

 

[Saab34]

Qantas Sydney Airways.

Been that way for a while now.

 

[MelbFlyer]

Also, it's very funny to see people thinking they stand a chance at getting a classic reward seat on these flights in a premium cabin lol.

I'm sure some high tiered members would still think that they're entitled to a CR release though.

Realistically though, I suspect it would be a very small percentage even in economy, of CR seats available.

21hrs on a plane for me is a hard no though - I've done 16.5hrs and even despite being in business, it was long enough.

 

[SYD]

An A350 maybe, but QF are also ordering 3 class configs. We'll see.

They’re also supposed to be ordering 4x class “Flagship” A350s to replace the A380s. Those routes aren’t going away: East coast-SIN-LHR, East coast-LAX/DFW.

As mentioned above, LAX is a significant F/J market for QF.