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

[moa999]

Nice interview with Lars Wagner, CEO Airbus Commercial Aircraft, and a bit of VH at the end.

 

[mjt57]

Is this flight going to be 22 hours of darkness?

That'll do wonders for people's circadian rhythms, eh?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That'll do wonders for people's circadian rhythms, eh?

Whatever happens on the current long range flights of 17 hours or so will likely happen in the a350.

I doubt people are going to start factoring in circadian rhythms for the extra couple of hours.

 

[Melburnian1]

Nice interview with Lars Wagner, CEO Airbus Commercial Aircraft.

The Airbus gent said the aircraft would be 'enjoyable for passengers' as it had been 'redesigned'.

Not if one was in an 81.28cm rear whY seat!

 

[transpactraveller]

Interesting he didn't really answer the question about whether Airbus would make a profit on all the work that's gone in to designing these 12 aircraft for Qantas if no other airline is interested in buying any.

 

[elanshin]

Interesting he didn't really answer the question about whether Airbus would make a profit on all the work that's gone in to designing these 12 aircraft for Qantas if no other airline is interested in buying any.

I suspect - probably not if QF is the only customer. But theres more to consider than the ULR. How much of QF ordering the ULR influenced project fysh to order more a350. Or upcoming future orders for a350 etc.

There's always more than a simple answer with a such a loaded question that needs a highly nuanced answer.

And yes there are definitely other airlines that could consider the 350K ULR. SQ for example could sub it for their 359 ULR on SIN - JFK/EWR for better deployment capacity. Even Emirates/QR could conceivably consider it for some of their longest routes as well although these things all need to be properly number crunched to see if it's better than heavy payload restrictions on existing frames.

 

[chitown_boy]

Interesting he didn't really answer the question about whether Airbus would make a profit on all the work that's gone in to designing these 12 aircraft for Qantas if no other airline is interested in buying any.

Exclusive: Turkish Airlines Targets Nonstop Istanbul-Sydney With Airbus A350-1000s In 2027

While the carrier has its ultra-long-haul sights set, it is also mulling an expansion in the US.

simpleflying.com

 

[justinbrett]

That'll do wonders for people's circadian rhythms, eh?

Airbus has been boasting about their new lighting systems that will help with jet lag, so I’m pretty sure this has been considered.

 

[piec]

Interesting he didn't really answer the question about whether Airbus would make a profit on all the work that's gone in to designing these 12 aircraft for Qantas if no other airline is interested in buying any.

He did say they've implemented learnings from this project into the regular A350s.

 

[Melburnian1]

Like most sensible businesses, presumably QFi only announces things that are as close to 'certain' as can be.

How many ULR aircraft are expected to be available for QFi by October 2027?

Is there any (remote?) prospect of insufficient aircraft being available by that date? Or training of flight deck and cabin crew further delayed?

 

[Daver6]

Airbus has been boasting about their new lighting systems that will help with jet lag, so I’m pretty sure this has been considered.

QF have been spruiking lighting to do just that for decades.

 

[justinbrett]

QF have been spruiking lighting to do just that for decades.

Article here

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/the-science-of-sunrise-qantas-creates-cabin-lighting-inspired-by-aussie-landscapes-to-combat-jetlag

 

[levelnine]

QF have been spruiking lighting to do just that for decades.

23 years to be precise lol

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Article here

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/the-science-of-sunrise-qantas-creates-cabin-lighting-inspired-by-aussie-landscapes-to-combat-jetlag

Indeed!

But I can’t see ‘awake’ being used in the middle of the flight when the whole cabin is sleeping, simply to get people’s rhythms in time with arrival

I reckon it will be same same… lights out between meals and service to allow pax to do as they want… sleep, watch tv etc.

Lights used to prepare the cabin for sleep, and again 2 hours before arrival to wake everyone.

The whole Cathay thing of serving main meals in the middle of the flight when everyone is asleep isn’t universally popular. For good reason perhaps?

 

[transpactraveller]

Qantas has been saying for the Sunrise flights that they were going to try to optimise everything to reduce jetlag. So I wonder if that will include the meal times set to destination timezone.

 

[elanshin]

Qantas has been saying for the Sunrise flights that they were going to try to optimise everything to reduce jetlag. So I wonder if that will include the meal times set to destination timezone.

I think that was part of the research 787 delivery flights they precovid (where they flew LHR and JFK - SYD direct with some press and researchers) where they got served meals and stuff to try and match SYD time.

 

[MELso]

Qantas has been saying for the Sunrise flights that they were going to try to optimise everything to reduce jetlag. So I wonder if that will include the meal times set to destination timezone.

Apparently, that is part of the plan.

has more.

 

[RooFlyer]

Like most sensible businesses, presumably QFi only announces things that are as close to 'certain' as can be.

Such as a London first lounge; MEL as a PS destination/origin and 34" seat pitch in Y?

 

[SYD]

Such as a London first lounge; MEL as a PS destination/origin and 34" seat pitch in Y?

Wasn’t it supposed to be 33” seat pitch throughout prior to the Y+ announcement?

As others have said, don’t know why they just didn’t stay with that and pitch it as all Y+….

Or ditch one row and make the most of that.

Some here said PS will never fly nonstop SYD-LHR because the tanks are too heavy. Apparently not. Similarly, I reckon we’ll see PS ex MEL in due course but quite a few years away (it was never going to be Day 1).

I actually haven’t been to the current QF LHR lounge - since these days I fly home from Europe from anywhere except the UK. Apparently the wrecking ball is on its way to take out T3 - not a bad thing since it’s a hovel… who knows what’ll turn up but yeah, it’s a shame there won’t be some sort of Flagship experience for the PS flights.

 

[Quickstatus]

Is this flight going to be 22 hours of darkness?

Potential double sunrise SYd-LHr via the polar route depending on time of year and juxtaposition of the actual to the North Pole.

QF have been spruiking lighting to do just that for decades.

Yes, and if there are any worthy research, they have not published it. The 2019 trial flight in the 787 non stop from JFK and LHR research has never been published. They did publish a preliminary summary but it is a conclusary statement rather than an actual paper.

they were going to try to optimise everything to reduce jetlag.

Like 32in seats in Y?