Qantas International flights to expand for wealthier travellers

Older Australians are set to travel overseas more than ever, and the nation’s biggest airline is muscling up to carry them.

An Airbus A350-1000 flight test aircraft flies over Sydney Harbour. Picture: James D. Morgan/Getty Images

Qantas International needs to “bulk up” to prepare for big changes in travel in the coming years as more older, richer Australians take to the skies, the airline says.

Its Project Sunrise plan to fly non-stop from Sydney to New York and London from mid-2026 would help cater for structural travel shifts, it told an infrastructure briefing in Sydney on Monday.

The CEO of Qantas International and Freight, Cameron Wallace, said the company would bring in a “tremendous amount of new aircraft” in the next decade, some as replacements and some as growth aircraft.

“All of the Project Sunrise A350s are actually for us to grow, and when I look at Qantas International we need to bulk up,” he said.

“We need to be bigger, we need to take Australians to more places on a point-to-point basis.”

New aircraft would help lower costs, increase efficiencies and deliver passengers more flexibility, Mr Wallace said.

“We are bullish about the future and the opportunity,” he said.

“If you look at our demand profile, it remains quite robust.

“We think there has been a structural change in terms of demand for travel. We washed through the pent-up demand after the pandemic, but now we are seeing people continue to prioritise travel over our other categories.”

Mr Wallace said this was positive for Qantas and had good momentum, and the looming New York to Sydney flights would be “really, really material”.

“If you look at the trends we see, we see more people wanting to fly more often,” he said.

“We’re seeing an ageing population, and a population ageing with more wealth than they have ever had, and the propensity to spend that wealth on travel experiences.

“We think getting into Europe and getting deeper into the States on a non-stop basis will stimulate the market even further.”

People were prepared to pay for the ultra long-haul experience, the conference heard, and Mr Wallace said he was pleased with the performance of Qantas’s current longest-distance flights.

“We get the confidence through what I call Project Sunrise lite, which is Perth to London, Rome and Paris, Melbourne-Dallas, Auckland-JFK, all these sectors around 17 hours,” he said.

Qantas will use Airbus A350-1000s for its ultra long haul flights. Picture: James D. Morgan/Getty Images

“If you look at our international network generally those have been in the top quartile, so it shows people are willing and prepared to have a non-stop experience of over 15 or 16 hours.

“It will be a unique offering. I’ve been in aviation for 25-odd years and coming up with unique offerings is always very very difficult in aviation, and this will be something that will be very hard to copy, especially in the short to medium term.”

Sydney Airport CEO Scott Charlton told the briefing that people were changing the way they travelled, including at airports.

“They are looking for more experiences in the airport … lounges are very important, particularly for the premium carriers … but we need to cater for all.”

He said AI was already helping the airport manage security processes, waiting times and weather predictions, and would help create “a much more pleasant experience” by the end of the decade.