Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson says the airline’s plan to launch non-stop flights to Europe and the US in 2026 remains on track despite ongoing manufacturing delays at Airbus and Boeing.
Qantas placed an order for 12 Airbus A350s in 2022, and confirmed on Tuesday that it received approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency to fit the aircraft with a third fuel tank to facilitate the 22-hour flights from Australia’s east coast to London and New York.
Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson says plans for the world’s longest direct flights are on track.Credit: Louise Kennerley
“We’re working very closely with Airbus, and the first aircraft is due to arrive from mid-2026. It’s passed all the certifications now, so we’re feeling very optimistic about the delivery timetable,” Hudson said at the International Air Transport Association’s annual general meeting in Dubai.
“This is going to be a fundamental part of our network structure.”
The so-called sunrise routes will be the longest direct flights in the world, and Qantas expects a $400 million earnings boost when the entire fleet is operational despite high rollout costs. The 238-seat cabin will have 140 economy seats, 40 premium economy seats, 52 business seats and six first-class seats.
Airbus and Boeing have pushed back aircraft delivery timeframes for most of their airline clients as the broader manufacturing supply chain has failed to keep up with demand following the resumption of flying after COVID-19.
The aircraft delays have been exacerbated in recent months due to a quality assurance crisis at Boeing after a door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max-9 this year.
Hudson said the bulk of the non-manufacturing issues that plagued the carrier directly after the pandemic, such as insufficient staffing levels, had been resolved over the past six to nine months.
“We’ve worked with our government to get the right visa structures in place that enable us to bring our engineering levels back to complement. We are feeling good about the pipeline of cabin crew and pilots in Australia as well,” she said.
Cam Wallace, the airline’s head of international flights, said the decision to withdraw flights from mainland China less than a year after relaunching them was due to aircraft capacity restraints and Qantas’ failure to get approval to coordinate with China Eastern.
“We’re going to have to make decisions quicker and be more agile with deploying aircraft into more productive cities, especially as we move towards fleet reinvestment,” Wallace said.
“Getting out of China was the right call. We still serve China through Hong Kong, and we still have a code share relationship with China Eastern,” he added.
This reporter travelled to Dubai as a guest of IATA.
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