Rumour has it & Qantas [778 non-stop London from Sydney]

[UP4014]

a friend who is a tactical engineer at qf is working on the project !
nonstop and 777 series 8 . 20.5 hrs
i think the convenience of direct flts to lon will be a winner . we might revive the old girl ( qf ) yet !

in qf circles they are highly excited about it ! the 380 hasnt been a runaway success due to high costs and slimer yields than a runaway expected.

re syd london another mate flys for emirates and twice a month does dubai / usa this is 19 hrs in 777 lr

Agree with the 380 comment. They require more upkeep like Mrs BAM1748.

 

[lovestotravel]

The 380 hasnt been a runaway success due to high costs and slimer yields than a runaway expected.

re syd london another mate flys for emirates and twice a month does dubai / usa this is 19 hrs in 777 lr

So follow on order by Emirates and Singapore for the A380 must mean it's not good ?

Also NO LAX-Dubai is not a 777LR anymore, it's a 777-300ER and A380 once EK receive the newer model

Oh and it's not 19 hours either, it's 15:50-16:30

Not sure anything you have said is anywhere near accurate

 

[Fruitcake]

So follow on order by Emirates and Singapore for the A380 must mean it's not good ?

Just because it's good for EK and SQ doesn't mean it's as good for QF. As you have said those carriers have topped up orders - whilst QF has been deferring deliveries (is it eight deferred deliveries now?). EK and to a slightly lesser extent SQ both operate massive hubs which helps when it comes to filling an A380.

(As an aside, it's now just short of 11 months since the last A380 order.)

I think SEA is the only US port that EK is still sending the 77L to regularly (open to correction that one) - once again far short of 19 hours in either direction. The LAX service goes to the A380 in December.

 

[casanovawa]

All you people poo-poohing this idea are going to look pretty silly when its revealed that the obvious answer will be that QF's 777-8xs will be air to air refuelable...

I'm sure there are a few militaries between here and LHR who won't mind scheduling the odd tanker round the place...

 

[elbarto]

Wow 18 months to get an aircraft that not even Boeing has formally acknowledged will be built. Someone's been smoking the wacky tobaccy. Without a great leap in technology that would allow SYD-LHR to happen in under 12 hours, I don't see it happening.

 

[elbarto]

All you people poo-poohing this idea are going to look pretty silly when its revealed that the obvious answer will be that QF's 777-8xs will be air to air refuelable...

I'm sure there are a few militaries between here and LHR who won't mind scheduling the odd tanker round the place...

Airbus needs to do something with that spare MRTT they have. Air-Air refuelling service could be on the cards.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Wow 18 months to get an aircraft that not even Boeing has formally acknowledged will be built. Someone's been smoking the wacky tobaccy. Without a great leap in technology that would allow SYD-LHR to happen in under 12 hours, I don't see it happening.

wouldn't NOW be exactly the time you would be working on the logistics of this? otherwise you'd possibly miss the boat when anything firm was announced.

 

[lovestotravel]

Just because it's good for EK and SQ doesn't mean it's as good for QF. As you have said those carriers have topped up orders - whilst QF has been deferring deliveries (is it eight deferred deliveries now?). EK and to a slightly lesser extent SQ both operate massive hubs which helps when it comes to filling an A380.

(As an aside, it's now just short of 11 months since the last A380 order.)

I think SEA is the only US port that EK is still sending the 77L to regularly (open to correction that one) - once again far short of 19 hours in either direction. The LAX service goes to the A380 in December.

My point was that thread/rumour is pointless and full of incorrect information....

QF is also far from a shining example of how to run a profitable/successful long-haul fleet

EK and SQ operate a much better airline operation than QF

QF lost the plot for years with an old fleet and a very inferior product

Only recently they have tried to lift their game/product

Too little/too late for international IMO

 

[samh004]

Interesting rumour. Probably wouldn't be able to afford such a service when it began operation, but personally, I'd rather stop half way, perhaps for a night or two, and it doesn't bother me if it's SIN, HKG, BKK, DXB, or anywhere else for that matter.

 

[casanovawa]

Airbus needs to do something with that spare MRTT they have. Air-Air refuelling service could be on the cards.

Seeing fuel is one of their major inputs, apart from trying to get their hands on some spare refining capacity, a few airlines could buy one of those, or maybe lease it or pay the Indian air force if you trust that lot, and have it doing circuits around the bay of bengal (or somewhere else slightly less bumpy)... If you could get the planes to be designed or re-eqipped for refueling and pay some various air forces pilots to come and join your company wonder what the economics of it would be...

 

[harvyk]

It's also the weight of carrying a third meal and multiple refreshments as well I imagine.

The weight of an extra meal whilst would need to come into consideration it would not be a big consideration when comparing the cost of the extra fuel / lost freight capacity.

EK and SQ operate a much better airline operation than QF

Geography and tax systems are much nicer to both EK and SQ.

It's not that I can't see non-stop flights from here to LHR on the cards. It's just they would need to do more than save a couple of hours in transit along the way. IMHO Concorde or similar SST technology would need to be deployed to make it truly attractive for the price.

 

[marki]

My point was that thread/rumour is pointless and full of incorrect information....

QF is also far from a shining example of how to run a profitable/successful long-haul fleet

EK and SQ operate a much better airline operation than QF

QF lost the plot for years with an old fleet and a very inferior product

Only recently they have tried to lift their game/product

Too little/too late for international IMO

Respect your comment don't agree with it though

 

[markis10]

Maybe the real rumor is that Qantas are planning on recreating the original non stop London Sydney flight with the same aircraft on its 25th anniversary next year??

VH-OJA Boeing 747

 

[serfty]

...
Oh and it's not 19 hours either, it's 15:50-16:30...

You are forgetting to factor in lounge time before the flight ...

 

[Alanslegal]

I would be thinking any 19hr+ trip would require at least three crews! So factor in our high labour costs and this would push the cost a little bit more unaffordable.

I think the OP's friend, who I believe was in the engineering side of things, was testing whether it was possible to fly that far (syd-lon) non-stop which is likely do-able, but when it comes down to the bean-counters ..... it would likely be unfeasible.

 

[Fruitcake]

Maybe the real rumor is that Qantas are planning on recreating the original non stop London Sydney flight with the same aircraft on its 25th anniversary next year??

VH-OJA Boeing 747

I think that's the most believable variant of the rumour.

 

[lovestotravel]

Respect your comment don't agree with it though

Still waiting to know how QF plan to operate this route with an aircraft that won't be in commercial service til 2020 or later

 

[Must...Fly!]

Still waiting to know how QF plan to operate this route with an aircraft that won't be in commercial service til 2020 or later

Powered by rainbows.

 

[yohy?!]

would be more interesting to see the economics of running PER-LHR today with 777ULRs

im sure VA have run them already, which is probably why QF is looking at whatever the rumour is behind this thread

 

[docjames]

I could see QF and the 787-9 trying LHR-SYD nonstop on a delivery flight (again, how far away would that be??) but commercially viable nonstop SYD-LHR is a long way away IMO. Or a recreation of the original LHR-SYD flight (as already mentioned).

On top of all the reasons mentioned making it commercially nonviable (fuel burn, 20+hrs in a Y seat, aircraft availability etc), there's also the cannibalisation of the premium seats on their existing one stop routes making those routes unviable if all the premium pax (and thus, premium fares) are removed).

Would love to be proved wrong, but with current aircraft and economics, wont be holding my breath waiting for it to happen, even less for QF to try it.