Imagine sitting in an aircraft for 20 hours without stopping. To some, it may be their version of hell, while for others it might be utterly heavenly. The news that Qantas pilots approve Project Sunrise means these flights are one step closer to reality.
The business case at Australian airline relied on pilots approving the proposed new flying. Why? Such long journeys required changes to terms and conditions, pay scales needed to be agreed and more.
Qantas Pilots Approve – But Who Wants To Fly That Long?
There are a bunch of people who automatically think a flight of this duration would be terrible. Usually they have never flown on a very long flight at all, so it seems like their own personal version of pergatory.
Now try asking someone who shuttles back and forth between Australia and Europe or Australia and the US east coast. Avoiding that stop in the middle saves quite a bit of time.
My personal experience with flying that far is on Qatar Airways from Doha to Auckland and back. These are 17 and 18 hour flights and quite frankly I didn’t want to get off the plane. It helps that Qatar’s business class is exceptional.
Other evidence is from Qantas themselves. They send a Boeing 787 from Perth to London non-stop, again a 17 hour journey. That service has both the highest customer satisfaction scores on their international network as well as the highest load factors. All those people can’t be wrong!
Overall Thoughts
Now that Qantas pilots approve, it looks like the airline will go ahead and order those Airbus A350-1000s for the service. This was originally to take place in March 2020, but Airbus have agreed the order can be placed as late as December, thanks to the pandemic.
Either way, I am looking forward to the formal order being placed. Apparently an entirely re-imagined cabin experience will come in with the A350s, with new seats for all four classes. Let’s hope it is a world beating product!
What do you think of the fact the Qantas pilots approve of Project Sunrise? Will you take these flights when they start in 2023? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Qantas business suite image via Thompson Aero.
it’s guaranteed to be scrapped for the next 6 years. they’ve totally lucked out haven’t actually purchased the plane yet.
That’s some statement, but it’s not something I believe is going to happen. Considering delivery is scheduled for 2023, I think it will go ahead. Time will tell! Thanks for the comment!