Airbus A350 - General Discussion (2017)

It's an interesting rumour, as much as I would love it to be true (for obvious reasons ) for some reason I still feel QF will go for the 777X (I very much hope I'm wrong though!). Anyway, they're scheduled to give their annual results on Friday when they tend to announce any fleet developments/aircraft orders so lets see if they're ready to announce anything then.

No orders from QF were announced during their annual financial results although they did reaffirm their intention to fly from the Australian east cost to Europe and JFK. 




Anyway here's a few of my opinions on the A350's chances.

I think at this stage it'll really depend on how well the 777-8X and A350ULR perform between Sydney and LHR which from what I've heard appears to be the most challenging route they have in mind. Interestingly Alan Joyce was saying he wants the aircraft to be able to operate the route at 'full payload' although I'd be interested in knowing if he means a full passenger load in a highly premium heavy configuration or a full passenger load in a denser configuration (I believe he previously mentioned he would like 300 seats) with a bit of freight on the side. 

Anyway, I have no idea how either aircraft will actually perform on the route, although if they're both able to operate with a decent enough payload for its size it'll be a very interesting competition. The smaller capacity of the A359 will probably work better for thinner routes such as flights out of Brisbane and will probably give Qantas a bit more flexibility if the competitive situation or their strategy changes. As mentioned, this will be one way they'll be able to convert their A380 orders although in my opinion, it's not their only option (another would be more A320neos although that'll be another discussion altogether). QF though may like the additional capacity of the 778 on routes such as SYD/MEL-LHR/JFK and given whoever wins the ULH competition will likely also determine whether the 779 or A35K is ordered to replace the A380 in 10 years or so, the additional capacity of the 779 may work better. 

My gut feeling is that QF would prefer the larger capacity of the 777X although of course, if the A359ULR performs better than the -8X then certainly think the A359 will be ordered. The other reason for my gut feeling is that in previous press pieces, QF has always seemed to  talk much more about the 777X's potential with little mention of the A350. A few months ago I was fortunate enough to hear from the head of Qantas International and he mentioned how they were working with Boeing to get the 777-8X to London, saying Boeing was close to making that happen although he only made a passing remark of the A350. (Interestingly if I remembered correctly he mentioned the A350 as the -2000 [or was it -8000]. I'm not sure if that was a mistake or he they were actually talking to Airbus about a larger A350). Anyway that's just my gut feeling and I'm sure QF will go through due diligence in selecting whatever aircraft they order and will select whatever is best for them. 

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And an update from across the ditch. Air New Zealand has also re confirmed that they're looking at the 777X and A350, with the airlines looking at direct services to New York. From this latest update, they've given the following timeline for this potential order.

www.reuters.com/article/air-new-zealand-results-idUSL4N1L858G

That's for adding that part into the discussion . I kind of glossed over economics and wrote a large part of my previous post under an assumption that both aircraft could perform with a decent payload over the required range economically. (The reason I did that was given how much I know/don't know about either aircraft and the ranges that QF wants to fly it on, I didn't feel like I could make a proper comment on either aircraft in that regard).


I completely agree. I think any purchase of a ULR aircraft will come with a corresponding purchase of A35Ks or 779s, maybe not immediately but within a few years. I don't necessarily think they'd order the A359 along with the A359ULR since ordering additional 789s will very likely be cheaper but it's not a bad option if they want to increase the A359 fleet size or want the slight additional capacity of the A359. 


I kind of agree! I can see their strategic intention in doing this but can't help but wonder whether it'll necessarily be that profitable or whether it'll be sustainable in the long term competitive environment.

I must say, I was quite skeptical when they said they may be putting the 789 on routes such as PER-Europe and thought they were largely doing it for the marketing but we've since seen them go ahead with PER-LHR so I certainly see QF trying to go ahead with their plans. All I'll say is good luck to them. 

I still do believe that those ULR routes are going to be specialty. Simply the plane has to haul so much fuel in the beginning that it can be hardly economical and frankly the time difference is what ? Maybe 2 hours at most.