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

[justinbrett]

Think it really depends on global demand for F.. plenty of airlines have dumped it entirely with pax finding the J with door sufficient.

It was looking that way but seems to have reversed in recent years.

LAX-SYD is a celeb heavy route, as long as people are paying (and it seems they are), I can't see QF getting rid of it. A350 will have fewer F seats, similar to BA's twins, so I think it's almost guaranteed going forward. The fact the US airlines have or will dump them only strengthen the case for QF to keep it.

 

[burneracc]

Perth and Sydney also have a much higher proportion of British born residents than MEL (or BNE) does so that doesn’t help.

Yup spot on, have said this before - Perth UK born population is ~9.7%, myself being one of them. Sydney is only ~3.5% on the other hand, but being a global city, has much more of a claim to supporting PS with far stronger ties to London than Melbourne does. This likely also partly plays into why QF9/10 ex-MEL was cancelled.

 

[justinbrett]

Yup spot on, have said this before - Perth UK born population is ~9.7%, myself being one of them. Sydney is only ~3.5% on the other hand, but being a global city, has much more of a claim to supporting PS with far stronger ties to London than Melbourne does. This likely also partly plays into why QF9/10 ex-MEL was cancelled.

But percentages don't fill seats, total numbers do.

I'm Australian born and I go to the UK at least once often twice a year, so it's not everything.

 

[burneracc]

But percentages don't fill seats, total numbers do.

I'm Australian born and I go to the UK at least once often twice a year, so it's not everything.

PER-LHR is commonly regarded one of the most profitable route QF fly. Seats are almost always full. Average flight load is 94% according to QF. I am sure they would not have axed the MEL leg of QF9/10 if it would have impacted flight load significantly.

 

[TheInsider]

This likely also partly plays into why QF9/10 ex-MEL was cancelled.

this was purely based on aircraft rotation.

 

[justinbrett]

PER-LHR is commonly regarded one of the most profitable route QF fly. Seats are almost always full. Average flight load is 94% according to QF. I am sure they would not have axed the MEL leg of QF9/10 if it would have impacted flight load significantly.

I'm not saying you're wrong, just pointing out it's strange to say because one smaller city has a higher percentage of UK born than a larger city - and I know you weren't the first to say this.

Saying that PER has more UK born than MEL is valid - it was just weird to be talking about proportions or percentages. They're irrelevant.

And then of course my point that many people flying to LHR are Australian born.

PER-LHR is very popular, but I think that's mostly a function of being the most westerly capital and a logical gateway for Europe. You can barely get a CR seat on QF1/2 either so - breaking news, Aussies like flying to London.

 

[dajop]

this was purely based on aircraft rotation.

And presumably for the same reason it is resuming come the next southern summer timetable. So not gone forever.

 

[Melburnian1]

Sadly I think it’s reflective of the economic malaise in Victoria at the moment. Whether or not that will turn around is anyone’s guess, but it’s a very sickly environment right now.

Yes, a good point: companies historically Melbourne-based such as the listed on ASX Myer have singled out Victoria for less than stellar retail sales.

 

[elanshin]

I'm confused at the outrage about MEL. It was always going to be SYD to begin with. And by the time QF has enough planes to even consider the next port we'd be a couple of years into ops (likely 2028/2029).

If QF1 -4 (assuming both LHR and JFK inherit the flagship numbers) prove to be a roaring success, they will assess the data and decide. It could also be a total flop and they pivot the 350ULRs into other routes.

In the meantime I'm more interested to see what they do with the 380 routes once PS is going. Given we see some shuffling already (AY 330 to HND), i suspect some network shakeups are going to be happening.