FROM THE CEO

In 2019, I had the pleasure of being on two history-making Qantas flights – ultra-longhaul research flights from New York and London to Sydney, dubbed Project Sunrise. We did them in a mostly empty aircraft so we could achieve those incredible distances and learn as much as we could before launching them as a commercial service.

Then COVID got in the way. But we always hoped to put Project Sunrise back on the agenda and last month we announced an order for 12 modified Airbus A350s to make it a reality from late 2025. These aircraft have the range to fly from Australia to any city in the world and our initial plan is to fly them from Sydney to London and New York.

People have two reactions when you tell them about Project Sunrise. First, they’re excited that these flights are possible. Second, they wonder what 20 hours on an aircraft would be like. We had the same reactions to our 17-hour Perth-London service and it gained the highest customer satisfaction of any route on our network. Our new Perth-Rome service starts this month.

The Qantas A350s will be among the world’s most luxurious passenger aircraft. First will have a bed, chair and wardrobe and there’ll be a new Business suite. Economy will have more legroom than any other aircraft in our fleet and all passengers will have access to a Wellbeing Zone. They’ll save about four hours travel time. And we’re committed to making Project Sunrise flights carbon neutral, too.

We’re also adding to our domestic fleet with up to 134 A320 and A220 aircraft, as our Boeing 737s and 717s retire over the next decade. The new aircraft will be more fuel-efficient and fly greater distances so we can connect to more cities in Australia and our region.

These investments are a sign of our long-term confidence in our business, providing new opportunities for our people and mean we’ll be able to create an even better experience for our customers. We’ll bring you more details as we get closer to the launches.

Thanks for choosing Qantas.