Qantas’s ‘winged keel’ gets all clear for takeoff on ultra long range flights
The airline’s own ‘winged keel’ on new A350-1000s has been cleared for takeoff on ultra-long-range routes.
Business
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Qantas’s version of the winged keel that famously helped Australia II to victory in the 1983 America’s Cup, has been given the all clear by regulators making flights in excess of 20-hours more than a possibility.
Speaking on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association forum in Dubai, Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson said a third fuel tank on A350-1000s had been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency.
Earlier this year, it was revealed EASA had ordered Airbus to redesign the central fuel tank to achieve the required level of safety for the aircraft.
As a result of the redesign, the delivery date for the A350 was pushed back six months to mid-2026 with Qantas planning to begin flights between Sydney and London or New York shortly after.
With the services expected to deliver Qantas $400m in earnings a year by 2030, the flights were considered critical to the airline’s long term profitability going forward.
Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said the success of the airline’s Perth-London, Perth-Rome and Melbourne-Dallas Fort Worth flights had given them confidence point-to-point services were what customers wanted.
“Those are in the top echelon of our best performing routes so we want to be famous for being the ultra-long-haul, non-stop leader,” he said.
“In terms of our city pairs we’ll be launching first it will be either Sydney-London or Sydney New York. We think it’s complimentary to our current network, and it’s critical in terms of earnings.”
Ms Hudson said earnings from Project Sunrise would help ensure Qantas maintained its financial strength after rebounding from record losses during Covid-19, to a $2.47bn record gain in the 2023 financial year.
Although the result triggered widespread fury from customers following a period of high airfares and declining service, Ms Hudson said record profits should be a source of pride.
“We are proud of being as profitable as we’ve ever been in our history,” she said.
“It’s driven by delivering to customers, it’s driven by continuing to challenge ourselves to find ways of driving efficiency, driving productivity.”
Ms Hudson said greater profitability would allow Qantas to invest more in customers, as well as pay for new aircraft with the airline entering the largest fleet renewal process in history.
“The new aircraft themselves will unlock new routes, new cabin experiences, that’s a good thing for our people as well because they get growth, they get promotional opportunities,” she said.
“Growth enables us to drive efficiency in our cost base as well, and so it is going to be a focus that we have, growing profits sustainably.”
Airlines profits were a popular topic at the IATA forum, with Emirates president Tim Clark challenging his peers not to accept the wafer thin margins that have long been associated with aviation.
Sir Tim said his airline cleared “$5bn net” in the 2023 financial year with a margin of 12 per cent, and he intended to keep doing that.
“The days of low margins, that doesn’t have to be the case. We can be as good as any other industry with 6, 7, 8 or 9 per cent margins,” said Sir Tim.
“I think that’s something we could achieve. Why should we continue to be plagued with low margins? I think we’re seeing the beginnings now of a new era in the airline industry — people are starting to see some really good results.”
In an effort to retain its financial strength, Qantas was taking a hard line approach to underperforming routes, pulling off Sydney-Shanghai within months of returning.
Mr Wallace said that was due to the fact demand for the services was at only 66 per cent, as Chinese travellers opted for short haul destinations over longer haul trips.
“We’ve got to make nimble and agile decisions (and) getting out of China at that point was the right call,” said Mr Wallace.
He would not rule out returning to China but said in the interim Qantas would focus its metal on markets that were performing well, such as India.
The writer is in Dubai as a guest of IATA
Originally published as Qantas’s ‘winged keel’ gets all clear for takeoff on ultra long range flights
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