28 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION
viable payload. Sydney-London
Heathrow is 9,188nm.
And the clock is ticking.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce
outlined the Project Sunrise timetable
to reporters on the sidelines of the
IATA AGM on June 4.
It was hoped the technical
evaluation with Airbus and Boeing –
as well as consultation with regulators
on fatigue management issues and
crew rest rules, and discussions with
pilots – would be concluded by the end
of calendar 2018.
“There’s a lot of parallel processes,”
Joyce explained.
Once concluded, the process would
then shift to a request for proposal
(RFP) with both manufacturers.
The decision on aircraft type
would be made in 2019 for delivery
in 2022, should the business case
stack up.
“I keep on saying if the business
case works because there is a lot of
logistics,” Joyce said.
Three hundred seats, four classes
And what exactly does Qantas want on
board the eventual aircraft to operate
these nonstop services?
The answer to that question is
still being worked through, Qantas
international chief executive Alison
Webster told reporters at the IATA
AGM.
For now, the ambition was to have
a high-capacity, multi-class cabin and
“zones” for other inflight activities.
“First and foremost for us, we
are now looking at an aircraft
configuration that gives us some
flexibility and an opportunity for
around an over 300-passenger seat
count on the aircraft for the economics
to be in the right place for us,”
Webster said.
“We are clearly still moving around
through the final numbers on that
because we are also looking at a four-
cabin configuration of the aircraft
design and again as I said these are all
still works in progress.
“No definitive decisions have been
made around what will appear on that
aircraft.”
Webster said part of the cabin
analysis was consideration of different
zones on the aircraft for alternate
activities during the estimated 21-hour
sector on Sydney-London.
However, what those zones would
be had yet to be determined.
“In terms of zones, to be honest
we’re not even sure what we mean by
that yet,” Webster said.
“What we do know is, we want to
have multi-function capability on the
aircraft. This is about reimagining how
ultra long-haul travel will take place
and we are cognisant that for that
period of time on an aircraft we will
need to provide options and flexibility
for our customers.”
And the research on jet lag on
board Qantas’s Perth-London
Heathrow (7,829nm) nonstop flight
that kicked off in March being
undertaken in partnership with the
University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins
Centre is also expected to feed into the
passenger experience on those services
to London and New York.
So far, about 20 passengers on
the Perth-London Heathrow service
have been surveyed through the use of
three separate special wearables – two
on the wrist and one on the thigh –
preflight questionnaires and a tablet
device during the flight for them to
record their meal choices, mental state
and experience.
There was also a post-flight
questionnaire asking about matters
such as their experience of jet lag and
routine after arriving.
“These are the raw materials
from which we are going to seek the
patterns which will allow us to answer
the question, ‘are the things that we’ve
done by way of intervention actually‘No definitive
decisions
have been
made around
what will
appear on
that aircraft.’
ALISON WEBSTERThe first A350-900ULR for
Singapore Airlines completed its
first flight in April.AIRBUS