Boeing, Airbus close to Qantas long-haul hopes

Boeing is ‘close’ to building a jet that could carry Qantas passengers from Sydney to London non-stop.

Boeing and Airbus are in a race to satisfy Qantas’s desire for a long-haul jet capable of flying Sydney to London non-stop. Picture: Jono Searle.

Qantas aspirations to fly direct from eastern Australian cities to New York and London has received a boost with American giant Boeing yesterday declaring it was pretty close to making a jet that could do that.

Eric Lindblad, Boeing vice-president and general manager of the 777X program, said using the 777-8 variant “would be our proposal for that”.

Under its “Project Sunrise” plan, a move that could shave hours off travel times as well as bypassing stopovers, Qantas has pushed aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to extend the range of their next generation planes to allow flights between the eastern capitals and far-flung cities.

The choice for Qantas on the mega-long routes is viewed as being between the Boeing777X and the Airbus A350ULR, with both manufacturers working on the challenge.

“Today we have more work to do to make the right aeroplane, I think, given the Qantas requirements,” Mr Lindblad said.

“We also believe that it’s pretty ... close.”

Boeing vice-president and 777X chief project engineer Michael Teal said the 777-8 variant could provide “the best payload, operating economics and range combination to meet their needs”, although the aircraft maker was looking at “what knobs we can twist” to develop the plane that would meet Qantas’s needs.

He said the potential levers to be pulled to increase the range could include changing maximum take-off weight.

“If you look at the exact aeroplane we have on paper today, which is not a firm configuration, it falls short of all their desires, but exceeds many of their desires,” Mr Teal said.

“What we’re doing today is looking at what knobs we can twist. We are highly motivated to participate with them on Project Sunrise and make sure the aircraft we’re offering will meet their needs.”

Mr Teal said a detailed design on the 777-8 variant had kicked off and he expressed confidence the schedule for the program would be in line with Qantas’s requirements.

Boeing says it has had 340 orders placed for the 777X from airlines including Emirates, Qatar, Lufthansa, Etihad, Cathay Pacific and ANA, while there were also “unidentified” customers who have made orders.

Last week, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said in London he had received a “great reception” from both plane-making giants. Mr Joyce said “this challenge is to fly the route with full passengers and payload” and, while the existing designs could get the distance today, “we believe it can’t be done with a full payload”.

“We do believe more work is needed on both aircraft to get it there,” Mr Joyce told the Royal Aeronautical Society last week.

Last week, Ian Grant, Airbus vice-president for the Pacific region, said the market for ultra long-haul range aircraft was a “complicated beast”.

Mr Grant added that talks with Qantas had focused on the A350-900ULR variant, which is also what Singapore Airlines will use to fly directly from its Changi Airport hub to New York from next year.