Qantas unveils its first ‘game-changing’ new Dreamliner

Qantas has unveiled its first new long-haul Boeing Dreamliner in Seattle, to be named “Great Southern Land”.

The interior of Qantas’s first Boeing Dreamliner. Pic: Supplied

Qantas has announced its new 787-9 Dreamliner — the new aircraft type that will fly Perth to London non-stop and possibly from Perth to Paris or Brisbane to Chicago — will be named “Great Southern Land”.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce said the unveiling of the first Dreamliner at Boeing’s facility at Everett near Seattle was a “game-changer” for the carrier, which last got a new aircraft type in 2008 with the Airbus A380 superjumbo.

Mr Joyce told The Australian that Qantas “has always been one of the innovators out there”, saying he expected other carriers would have an eye to what the Flying Kangaroo had done with the plane.

“I think we were one of the first to do premium economy and a lot of airlines copied that,” Mr Joyce said.

“I think if you’re always first-mover … you always maintain that edge.”

Asked how he would know how passengers felt about epic journeys of about 17 hours from Perth to London, he said that when Qantas started flying from Sydney to the US direct, “that was about 14 hours, a lot of people were saying who is going to do that”?

“People now naturally do that without blinking. And you’d look crazy if you suggested that we’d stop the aircraft along the way. I think that that’s the same on these flights. We’re a little bit longer, but not that much longer, than the Sydney to Dallas flight that we do today.”

He said the forward bookings for the Perth to London flight, which starts in March, were “really strong”.

Other potential routes are now on the drawing board.

An announcement on further routes with some of the expected Dreamliner fleet that would be based in Brisbane would be made later this year or next year, Mr Joyce said.

Inside Qantas’s new Boeing Dreamliner.

The plane is being touted as having “next generation seating”.

Australian industrial designer David Caon, who shaped the interiors of the aircraft and the seating, told The Australian that the seat in the premium economy cabin meant that passengers could “end up sitting in like this zero-G almost position”.

He said ergonomics “was a huge factor” for the premium economy seat, then “on top of that was about creating that really important achievable seat position”.

“It’s not going to get you flat but it will enable you to extend as much as you want, your feet can go right through to the seat in front of you,” he said.

“The whole thing has been primarily comfort-focused and ergonomics-driven and then we looked after the aesthetics after that. This isn’t based on something existing. This is something we created from scratch. Typically, you might base it on an existing product that’s … heavily customised, but this is ground-up.”

Qantas is promoting the Dreamliner as having “next generation” seating in economy, premium economy and business.

Key features include bigger windows. The plane is also considered much quieter.

* Annabel Hepworth is visiting Seattle as a guest of Qantas and Boeing.