Qantas closes in on direct Sydney to London flights with landmark Airbus jet order, industry sources say

Qantas is about to announce a landmark order for Airbus A350-1000 jets able to continuous flights from Sydney to London as a part of a wider take care of the European planemaker, based on sources.

The multibillion-dollar order, to be unveiled in a Sydney airport hangar on Monday, brings the Australian service nearer to launching record-breaking direct flights of almost 20 hours on the profitable “kangaroo route” by mid-2025.

Qantas has touted plans for the world’s longest business flights for greater than 5 years however delayed its “Venture Dawn” as a result of coronavirus pandemic.

The deal is a breakthrough for the Qantas chief govt, Alan Joyce, who has described nonstop Sydney-London flights because the holy grail for the 101-year-old service.

The Australian airline launched the route in 1947 with Lockheed Constellations, when it took a number of stops and 58 hours of flying. Right this moment’s one-stop flights take virtually 24 hours.

Qantas in 2018 began continuous flights from Perth, in Western Australia, to London that take 17 hours to hold passengers 14,500km or 9,000 miles.

The Airbus growth comes days after Boeing additional delayed the event of its 777X jetliner, which had at one stage been in competition to permit direct flights from Australia’s east coast to London and New York.

An Airbus-owned A350-1000 was flying on Sunday from Toulouse to Perth, monitoring service FlightRadar24 confirmed.

Qantas, which has mentioned it might make a major announcement on Monday about the way forward for its community, declined to remark. Airbus additionally declined to remark.

On Sunday, the West Australian newspaper mentioned, with out citing sources, that the Qantas order would come with 12 A350s, 20 A321XLRs and 20 A220s in addition to buy rights for 106 extra airplanes unfold among the many differing types.

Qantas in December chosen Airbus as the popular provider for a serious order to resume its ageing narrowbody fleet, in a blow to its incumbent provider Boeing.

An airBaltic A220 was parked in Sydney on Sunday, FlightRadar24 confirmed. That vacation spot will not be on a traditional route for the European service. Australia has no A220 operators at current.

Qantas declined to remark when contacted by Guardian Australia on Sunday besides to say the airline was making an announcement on Monday.

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