Overview
Overseas travel is at the top of many Australian bucket lists right now. And if you're the kind of traveller who prefers fewer stopovers, there's some exciting news on the horizon from Qantas.
Dubbed Project Sunrise, the Australian airline has unveiled plans to introduce a fleet of twelve Airbus A350s, which are all capable of flying direct from Australia to London and New York. Direct flights are currently available from Darwin to London, however, for those on the east coast of Australia, this still means factoring in a layover to your journey.
Qantas has announced that with these new aircrafts, direct flights will be available from the east coast as well, starting with Sydney-to-London and Sydney-to-New York flights in late 2025.
Qantas first toyed with the idea of direct flights from Australia's east coast to New York and London back in 2017, however after two trial flights in 2019 decided to delay the decision.
"The A350 and Project Sunrise will make any city just one flight away from Australia," said Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce. "It's the last frontier and the final fix for the tyranny of distance."
With time in the air set to exceed the current 18-hour flight time of the Darwin-to-London route, the new aircrafts are also being designed with comfort in mind. The A350-1000s will carry 239 passengers compared to other airlines' average of 300 passengers, and will feature a designated comfort zone in the middle of the cabin where people can stretch their legs.
A350 wellness zone render
Alongside this announcement, Qantas has also revealed it will add 40 new A321XLRs and A220 aircrafts to its domestic fleet late next year. These new planes will gradually replace the Boeing 737s and 717s as they are retired.
"The A320s and A220s will become the backbone of our domestic fleet for the next 20 years, helping to keep this country moving," continued Joyce.
According to Qantas, this new fleet of aircrafts will create over 1000 jobs and Joyce says the aircrafts will help reduce emissions "by at least 15 per cent if running on fossil fuels, and significantly better when run on Sustainable Aviation Fuel". This will play a role in Qantas' commitment that it made in 2019 to reach net-zero by 2050.
If you fly Qantas regularly and you're committed to sustainability, you can also sign up for its Green Tier rewards program which unlocks rewards and benefits to customers who complete at least five sustainable activities across six areas in their lives.
Qantas' direct flights from Sydney to London and Sydney to New York are set to take to the air in late 2025. For more information, head to the Qantas website.
Images: Qantas