🚀 Qantas unveils new first class on NON-STOP Sydney/Melbourne-London/Paris/Frankfurt/New York flights 🌅

This week, Qantas has announced a major order for 12 Airbus A350s. Codenamed 'project sunrise', these aircraft will allow Qantas to offer non-stop services from Australia to Europe and North America. The A350s will come in a four-class configuration -- and with a brand-new first-class seat.

Photo credit: Qantas

Qantas hopes to commence its ultra-longhaul 'project sunrise' flights to Europe and North America in 2025. The A350-1000ULR planes will be able to fly for up to 21 hours -- enough to offer "direct flights between Australia and any city in the world." 

The aircraft will be fitted with an impressive new first-class suite as well as a dedicated "well-being zone", enabling passengers to stretch their legs on these ultra-longhaul flights.

All images courtesy of Qantas.

Launching these ultra-longhaul flights could be a game-changer for Qantas. Going direct eliminates refueling stops in international hubs such as Singapore. If these flights succeed, they might have interesting implications for the current hub-to-hub model in the longhaul aviation market: could these point-to-point flights gradually reduce reliance on the current hub-to-hub route networks?

Further info from the press release: QANTAS GROUP ANNOUNCES MAJOR AIRCRAFT ORDER TO SHAPE ITS FUTURE

“Internationally, 12 Airbus A350-1000s will be ordered to operate non-stop ‘Project Sunrise’ flights from Australia to other cities including New York and London. These aircraft will feature market-leading passenger comfort in each travel class with services scheduled to start by the end of calendar 2025 from Sydney.
All of these next generation aircraft – through their lower emissions, longer range, less noise and better economics – will improve how people travel around Australia and overseas.
Customers can expect more direct routes and therefore less total travel time. They can expect higher levels of cabin comfort. And, particularly on domestic and regional routes, they can expect more choice of flights at different times of day due to different size aircraft for peak and off-peak times.
…
The Qantas A350-1000 will have the range for direct flights between Australia and any city in the world. Powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 turbofan engines which are 25 percent more fuel efficient than previous generation aircraft.
Will carry 238 passengers across four classes (First, Business, Premium Economy, Economy), with more than 40 per cent of the cabin dedicated to premium seating. Compares to more than 300 seats on competitor airlines.
The cabin is specially configured for improved comfort on long flights and includes a wellbeing zone in
the centre.”