Try before you buy?

But fascinating too to get a small glimpse of how a manufacturer markets its aircraft to a potential airline customer, and how that potential customer evaluates that possible new purchase.

It’s unlikely that any airline buys a new aircraft on the basis of a quick demonstration flight (well, except perhaps Ansett under Sir Peter Abeles!). But both Airbus and Boeing clearly see value in exposing their products to potential new customers by showing their latest and greatest models off during demonstration tours.

The A350-1000 was in Sydney (and then Auckland) as part of a sales tour of Asia Pacific and the Middle East centred around February’s Singapore Airshow. So that presented an ideal opportunity to showcase the aircraft to Qantas, which has nominated the A350, as well as the Boeing 777X, as a contender for its highly ambitious Project Sunrise requirement.

Publicly at least Qantas’s stated interest is in the A350-900ULR variant of the A350, rather than the longer (and shorter ranging) -1000. Nonetheless, no matter what Airbus offers for Project Sunrise to meet Qantas’s requirement to fly a full passenger load nonstop between Sydney and London – neither the A350 nor 777X off the shelf can meet that requirement – there’s still value in looking over the A350-1000, given the close commonality across the A350 family.

And judging by the number and calibre of Qantas staff on the demo flight the airline saw value in the opportunity to run the metaphorical ruler over the A350. Several members of the Qantas senior executive were onboard the flight, including Group CEO Alan Joyce and Qantas International CEO Alison Webster, Phil Capps, head of customer product, plus the chief pilot and head of engineering.

But, given the number of TV crews along for the flight, there were likely other factors at play. It’s a pretty powerful PR message to have TV news coverage showing Alan Joyce stand in front of a brand new aeroplane talking about Qantas’s plans for investing in new aircraft types. That’s something that resonates not just with customers but with Qantas staff as well. The message? Qantas is in good financial health, is growing and is optimistic about its future.

That’s quite a contrast to rival Virgin Australia. VA is profitable once more, but much less so than Qantas is, and has publicly stated it is a “really a long way away” before it needs to look at its own widebody aircraft fleet needs in replacing its existing A330s and 777s.

There was likely another message too, to Boeing. The 777-8X is the currently thought to be the favoured option within Qantas for Project Sunrise. So such a public show of interest can only help keep Boeing on its toes and its pricing pencil sharp. Oh and the flight itself?

There is something special about a scenic flight over Sydney Harbour when the sun is shining and the water is sparkling. It was really memorable.

And I guess that was the point!

TRAFFIC CONTINUES!

Finally a quick note – I’m really excited that Gordon Reid’s muchloved Traffic column will continue to run in the magazine for the time being.

We’re looking at how best to feature Traffic on our website, where users can submit photos and traffic information, but for now it’s great that Gordon’s column remains in the mag – AA wouldn’t be the same without it!