DECEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION 25“Everything went so smoothly
today, having Iva Davies with us
performing that song [Great Southern
Land], seeing the new name on the
aircraft, that was just so emotional and
I think anybody that was in that room
would have felt a bit of a tear coming
on because it was amazing,” Joyce said.
“We’ve only changed the logo five
times, and we’ve only done it when we
think there’s a game-changing aircraft
coming, and this one for us was a big
occasion.”
But it is how Qantas will operate
the aircraft, pioneering nonstop flights
between Australia and the UK from
March next year, that will differentiate
it from other operators of Boeing’s
composite widebody twin.
“That range is special, and the
reaction around the globe that that
last frontier of aviation of linking
these two continents together has got
huge coverage, we’re seeing coverage
everywhere and that shows you it has
grabbed people’s imaginations,” Joyce
said.
And even bigger things are
to come for Qantas, which has
announced Project Sunrise to acquire
either the Boeing 777-8X or Airbus
A350-900ULR to operate nonstopflights from the east coast of Australia
to both New York and London.
“When we announced Project
Sunrise in head office we had 3,000
people there, and you could see the
excitement, the buzz that that created,
because it does show that Qantas is
back at the top of its game,” Joyce said.
“It’s got its mojo back, I think, and
this [the 787] is an example of that.”
That was a theme that Joyce
reiterated on the ground in Sydney
shortly after VH-ZNA had landed on
Australian soil for the first time.
“This in some way to me is a bit
about the rebirth of Qantas,” JoyceVH-ZNA taxis in at a wet Sydney
Airport on October 20.
JAMES MORGAN/QANTAS