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Qantas could still offer mid-flight layovers even after it has established Project Sunrise direct flights from Australia’s east coast to London and New York.
The Flying Kangaroo currently flies via Singapore to the British capital and will soon fly via Auckland to New York.
The airline’s chief executive, Alan Joyce, said on Thursday, “We’re optimistic some of these routes will go in addition to Sunrise.
“By the time we can do Sunrise, which will be in 2026/2027, we think these could be complementary to each other and serve slightly different markets.”
Qantas announced earlier this year that so-called ‘Project Sunrise’ direct flights from London and New York to Sydney would launch from 2025.
The purchase of the 12 A350s required to make the long trip had been delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the program itself placed on ice. However, delivery of all 12 A350-1000s will now be completed by 2028.
The news stopovers could be maintained came on the day Qantas announced it would launch a new service to New York via Auckland next year from 14 June next year.
It means the Flying Kangaroo will go head-to-head with Air New Zealand, which is starting its own 16-hour flight from the North Island on 17 September this year.
Qantas’ service will operate three days a week “initially” and use its 787-9s, three of which will be newly delivered next year.
“Customer feedback on our direct London and Rome services show how well suited our Dreamliner cabins are to longer international flights like these, which is helped by the fact we designed them with more room and fewer seats than most of our competitors.
“We think this route will be very popular with Australians given the opportunity to connect via Auckland and it also gives New Zealanders more choice.”
Qantas currently operates six daily services to Auckland from Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne that will increase to 11 when the New York service begins.
The airline revealed the new route alongside announcing it had recorded an underlying loss before tax of $1.86 billion in its full-year financial results, which Joyce called “staggering”.
Paul Sheehan
says:Maybe it is time, Air New Zealand re-introduced their Sydney-Los Angeles flight to go head to head with QF.
They operated the route years ago but if QF are going to go head to head with their New York operation routing through Auckland it would only seem fair for the award winning NZ carrier to respond accordingly.