Could Qantas be beaten to realizing Project Sunrise by an aggressive Virgin airline? The Virgin Group has the means and the motivation, but are they able to move fast enough? Let’s explore.
Is Virgin interested in Project Sunrise?
Project Sunrise is the goal to launch direct routes from London and New York to the east coast cities of Melbourne and Sydney. Qantas has been at the forefront of testing this concept, and has recently conducted three test flights with unloaded Boeing 787-9s. Qantas is also seeking either an Airbus A350-1000 or a Boeing 777-8 to operate these routes from Airbus and Boeing respectively.
Recent comments by Virgin founder Richard Branson highlight the potential rivalry on this route and raise the question if the Virgin Group would be up to the challenge.
“They need competition! Whether Virgin Atlantic might compete with them [Qantas] or Virgin Australia might, or a combination of the two, we will!” – Sir Richard Branson
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Could Virgin actually fly direct?
Currently, Qantas uses the Boeing 787 to fly between Perth and London, a market that Virgin Atlantic could operate in a heartbeat. They already have the same aircraft as their down-under rival.
Aas for Project Sunrise, this is where it gets a bit more complicated. On paper, with a distance of 17,800 km (9,600 nautical miles), this is no easy feat. Looking at their longest-range aircraft, Virgin Atlantic’s Airbus A350-1000 (the same type offered to Qantas by Airbus earlier this month) has a recommended range of 8,700 nmi (16,100 km), and the Boeing 787-9 that has a range of 7,635 nmi (14,140 km).
Virgin Australia, Virgin’s down under counterpart, only operates Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A330s, neither of which can make the journey directly. Thus the options in their current fleet don’t really align perfectly with the operational conditions. At least not with full aircraft anyway.
However, Qantas was offered an unmodified A350-1000 from Airbus to make the trip… an aircraft that Virgin already has. So theoretically, Virgin could deploy an A350-1000 direct to Sydney tomorrow if they wanted (ignoring permissions, etc).
Has the airline ruled it out? Not exactly.
“We are always evaluating new routes for our customers and Australia is a fantastic destination, however, we are unable to confirm anything at present” – Virgin Atlantic Spokesperson to Simple Flying
What has been Qantas’ response?
Qantas, who has now completed some test flights and recently rejected Airbus and Boeing’s designs for Project Sunrise aircraft, took the time to respond to Richard Branson’s claims. Speaking to The Australian, Qantas’ CEO Alan Joyce laughed off the challenge, claiming that Virgin had neither the expertise nor the aircraft to compete.
“I think Richard is generating publicity, but I have to say, he will find it very difficult to compete against us because we have got this amazing crew, we have these amazing pilots, we’ve got this expertise at long-haul flying that no other airline in the world has … I don’t think Virgin can do it. I think we will kill them on this one if we had to.”
What about other airlines?
However, whilst this article is primarily about Virgin taking on Qantas for the Project Sunrise crown, we should also examine that other possibility that a completely unexpected rival might swoop in before either have had a chance to react.
But who would that be? It would be an airline from either Europe or North America, who has the widebody aircraft capable and the desire to do so.
Simple Flying reached out to a few to get their comments on the matter.
American Airlines
First, supercarrier American Airlines; could they offer direct flights from New York to Sydney?
As American Airlines is a Qantas partner (and a fellow founding member of One World) it is highly unlikely that they would go out of their way at incredible expense to beat the Australian flag carrier.
“We’re always evaluating our network based on supply and demand, but at this time there are no plans to add nonstop service to Australia from east coast cities. We’re looking forward to starting a new service to Christchurch from LAX and Auckland from DFW next summer, and continuing to operate to Australia from LAX. And we’ll continue to work closely with our joint business partner, Qantas, to offer our customers the best schedules to the places they value the most.” – American Airlines Spokesperson
United Airlines
But what of fellow American rival United? Would they see the benefit of direct service to Australia from New York?
British Airways
Lufthansa
Lufthansa, one of the powerhouse airlines of Europe, could foreseeably offer routes from Australia to their hub in Frankfurt, giving passengers an easy way to access most of Europe.
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand seems like the only airline in the world currently planning actual Project Sunrise ‘Lite’ flights, with a direct route from Auckland to New York in October 2020.
IAG CEO Willie Walsh already made it clear he isn’t intending to have BA launch flights direct to Australia. But if Virgin Atlantic could do it I would love that! I’d love to be in their upper class for that distance! It would really be enjoyable.
Airbus was offering Qantas an unmodified A350-1000 for the trip… an aircraft Virgin already has.
I think Virgin are (currently) getting the “old” 316t variant of the A350-1000, rather than the newly-announced, longer-range 319t variant. But I think it’s just a simple paperwork matter to start giving Virgin the 319t variant as soon as it goes online. Once that starts, Virgin should be able to fly London-Sydney…and make a total fool of Alan Joyce 😉
Would anyone know the reason behind airbus offering its unmodified A350-1000 for Project Sunrise, considering the recommended range for that type is only 16200km & SYD-LHR is 17800kms?
Even if Qantas chooses to fly premium heavy, will the aircraft reach London?
It offered the new 319t variant, which was announced just a few weeks ago and which can carry 3 tons more fuel than the old 316t variant…
@Javed The 319 metric tonnes MTOW, 8,700 nm range (i.e. 16,112 km) version of the A350-1000 is for a full load of 375 passengers and bags (i.e. 100 kg x 375 = 37.5 tonnes). By reducing the passenger load by, say, 75 -100 passengers, you can trade that 7.5 – 10 tonne payload for more fuel — that’s up to a 1,000 nm ( 1,852 km) increase in range. Also, do keep in mind that routings may avoid the shorter ground distance of a great-circle route to use tailwinds to save time and fuel, shortening the equivalent still-air distance. Typically,… Read more »
With Delta ordering A350s, could they do NYC to SYD as codeshare with Virgin?
Turkish airlines wanted to do Istanbul-sydney a couple of years ago. There were also some rumours of going to rome or Paris instead of London .
Would love to see a continental Europe to Australia on a380 direct flight
Indeed!
Qantas acts as if London is the only interesting destination in Europe. It probably has something to do with the old colonial links between Australia and Britain. After Brexit, we’ll just have to see how attractive/relevant London remains as a destination.
A flight from a city like Frankfurt, Vienna or Istanbul to Sydney could be done on an existing A350-900 ULR…so there evidently isn’t enough interest in such a direct link.
Alan Joyce suggests only Qantas can do Project Sunrise because they have “amazing crew and pilots”. What is so special about them when other airlines would use the same aircraft? Can he be more specific please?
Re the Lufthansa option…. Surely going to any European destination ex SydneyMelbourne via Frankfurt is no different to stopping in say, Dubai or Singapore.
there’s a big difference called schengen area. you have a lot of “local” flights to frankfurt but not so many to singapore/dubai and doing a stopver in this places might be a struggle for many
quick QANTAS or it will be to late……. just buy the A350-1000 before you get beaten
why don’t they buy the A350-900 ULR? Compared to the standard -900, the -900ULR additional value is likely around $2 million. And it would cover the distance.
Because that aircraft only trades payload for range, thus can’t carry anywhere remotely near the pax count that QF wants.
“I think Richard is generating publicity…”
Pot, meet kettle…
Boeing has, according to the press, offered QF some 777-200LR’s as an interim fleet type to do sunrise until the 777-8 becomes available.
Virgin Australia, as an operator of the 777-300ER, could find a couple of 200LR’s right now and subject to regulatory approval do Sydney to New York and Sydney to LHR, albeit with no freight.
Crews are already trained, engineers are already trained, it is merely a different route.
That would take the wind out of the sunrise sails.
And virgin Australia has already done a number of 20-21 hr non stop flights delivering A330-200 aircraft from Toulouse to Melbourne.
In all this discussion it is important to remember the issue of traffic rights
London Sydney flights are restricted to carriers from the UK and Australia only
As ,post Brexit , all carriers from other countries are excluded because they won’t have fifth freedom rights. So the possible field is restricted to QF BA and the Virgin group
With that distance / time, I would prefer an airline with Asian cabin crew. Singapore Airline would be my first choice.
So basically A350-1000 can easily reach NY from Sydney with a minor tweak and surely London would need a bit of tuning as well
Got a couple of rather over inflated egos , big mouth syndrome. 1 which spews forth arrogant belittling nonsense , Alan Joyce . Qantas twit. The other , equally sized ego , Sir Richard Branson . Doesn’t need an intro. Publicity addict. Whether anything materialises , its a scenario of hurry up and wait ,we’ll see. What’s that saying? Ah yes, “actions speaks more than words'” I can not think of anything being more uninteresting , and waiting as the time goes by minute by minute , counting down the painstaking boredom sitting on an ultra long , direct long… Read more »