28 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION DECEMBER 2017
a full payload was the target, Joyce did
offer one little detail about the potential
cabin layout.
“Our ideal is to have all of our
classes on board the aircraft,” he said.
“We know there is a certain demand
for business, we know there is a certain
demand for premium economy. And we
know we have to have economy on the
aircraft to make the economics work.
The prices will be competitive.”
It’s likely Qantas will look to
acquire more than the half-a-dozen or
so ultra long-haul jets it would need
for daily Sydney-London and Sydney-
New York flights, as both aircraft
types would open up a range of other
nonstop options – Melbourne and
Brisbane to London nonstops, Sydney
nonstop to Chicago, Toronto and even
Rio de Janiero. (Sydney-Rio is ‘only’European points beyond London, such
as Paris and an unspecified city in
Germany.
“We’d love to be able to fly directly
into Brazil, into Rio and we’d love to
be able to fly directly into Cape Town,”
Joyce said.
“Existing technology doesn’t allow
us to do that. While the aircraft is close,
it’s not quite there.”
Currently, the world’s longest route
by distance is Qatar Airways’ Doha-
Auckland service at 7,848nm, operated
by Boeing 777-200LR equipment.
While it is true the 777-8X and
A350-900ULR are capable of operating
those Project Sunrise routes, the range
versus payload specifications were not
quite where Qantas believed they needed
to be for either airframes to ensure the
routes were economically viable.
The Boeing website lists the
777-8X as having a range of 8,700nm
and a passenger capacity of 350-375
passengers. The aircraft is expected to
enter service in 2022.
However, the final specifications
will only be known after further
development of the aircraft design
and an analysis of its General Electric
GE9X engines.
Meanwhile, Airbus has not
published specific technical data on the
A350-900ULR, stating only the long-
range variant was capable of flying 19
hours and carrying up to 165,000 litres
of fuel. By comparison, the standard
A350-900 has a range of 8,100nm and
could take on 141,000 litres of fuel.
Although Qantas has not spelled out
its specific requirements for passenger
count and cargo, preferring only to sayClockwise from top left – star of
the show at the formal delivery
dinner at Everett on October 16;
greeted by traditional dancers at
Honolulu; Icehouse performs in
Hangar 96; the tail of the second
Qantas 787 on the Boeing final
assembly line; landing on 16 left
at Sydney, and on the ground
in Honolulu.GERARD FRAWLEY, LEE
GATLAND, SETH JAWORSKI