Italian
La compagnia aerea australiana Qantas ha annunciato i piani per intraprendere i voli non stop verso l’Europa più lunghi del mondo, unendo la costa est del Paese a Londra, New York e Parigi.
La compagnia aerea ha trascorso quasi cinque anni al lavoro in quello che ha chiamato "Project Sunrise", con i servizi che incominceranno da Sydney dalla fine del 2025.
Il CEO della Qantas Alan Joyce ha fatto l’annuncio all’aeroporto di Sydney.
"This is a big day for Qantas, it's a big day for Australian aviation, I think it's a big day for world aviation. Today Qantas is making the biggest aircraft order in its history."
I voli, che infrangono i record di oltre 20 ore, saranno il risultato del super ordine di 12 nuovi Airbus A350 in grado di percorrere le rotte dalle tratte ultra-lunghe.
Joyce ha dichiarato inoltre che l’accordo porterà diverse opportunità lavorative – un passo importante dopo il licenziamento di migliaia di impiegati da parte dell’azienda durante la pandemia.
"Using aircraft like this and ordering aircraft like this, creates huge opportunities for our people and it creates employment. And we believe this will create thousands of jobs and thousands of promotional opportunities."
Il "Project Sunrise" è iniziato nel 2017, quando la Qantas lanciò un tweet che sfidava i due maggiori produttori di veivoli, la Boeing e l’Airbus, ad offrire un apparecchio che potesse volare senza fermate tra Sydney, Londra e New York.
Christian Scherer, il Chief Commercial Officer dell’Airbus, ha dichiarato che la sua azienda ha preso l’opportunità al volo.
"We at Airbus immediately responded via a Tweet, as we accepted this impeccable challenge. And it did set the tone for an exciting and most creative campaign, as we call it, that caught the imagination of the aviation world and beyond it, the travelling public, all over the world."
Neil Hensford è il presidente di Strategic Aviation Solutions.
Ritiene che l’accordo creerà opportunità per Qantas di competere nel mercato internazionale in modo più aggressivo.
"What it does is on the Kangaroo route, which is basically the route to Europe, basically it's never been a high-profit route. It's always been too many people serving it that are on it, and now it gives Qantas a very clear advantage because the A380 won't do it, so Emirates won't be able to climb into this market, Singapore Airlines haven't ordered the 1000, so it does give Qantas an advantage."
Ma ammonisce tutti che i viaggiatori non dovrebbero aspettarsi che i prezzi ritornino al livello pre-COVID.
"What we've got to understand is this aircraft is a very expensive aircraft and you're not going to go and get cheap fares for people to go and have their economy trip and their bucket and spade holiday in Europe. From an economy point of view, it could well be 25 per cent higher than what it is for the A380."
Intanto sul fronte domestico il gruppo Qantas incomincerà a rinnovare i suoi aerei a fusoliera stretta come parte del 'Project Winton', avendo effettuato ordini definitivi per 40 nuovi vettori Airbus mentre vengono ritirati i Boeing 737 e i 717.
Il primo di questi apparecchi arriverà alla fine del 2023, con inclusi nell’ordine il diritto alle opzioni di acquisto su altri 94 apparecchi entro i prossimi 12 anni.
Questi annunci sono stati fatti mentre Qantas presentava un aggiornamento commerciale, che mostra un forte recupero nella domanda di viaggi mentre l’Australia opera la transizione alla vita con il COVID.
Joyce ha dichiarato che l’indebitamento netto del gruppo è sceso ora a fine aprile 2022 a 4,5 miliardi di dollari, dopo il picco di oltre 6,4 miliardi durante il culmine della chiusura dei confini.
"And we always said that Qantas needed to transform to survive. We were 11 weeks from going bankrupt at 2020, but we also had to do this to make sure we took the opportunities when the market recovered, and we could grab those opportunities."
Qantas inoltre ha reso noto che la sua nuova flotta di veivoli si adeguerà all’impegno della compagnia aerea verso l’abbassamento delle emissioni.
English
Australia's national airline, Qantas, has announced plans to launch the world's longest non-stop flights to Europe, connecting the country's east coast to London, New York, and Paris.
The airline has spent almost five years working on its so-called "Project Sunrise", with services set to commence from Sydney from the end of 2025.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce made the announcement at Sydney Airport.
"This is a big day for Qantas, it's a big day for Australian aviation, I think it's a big day for world aviation. Today Qantas is making the biggest aircraft order in its history."
The record-breaking flights of over 20 hours come as a result of a blockbuster order of 12 new Airbus A350s to carry out the ultra-long haul routes.
Mr Joyce says the deal will also bring many employment opportunities - an important step after the airline stood down thousands of staff during the pandemic.
"Using aircraft like this and ordering aircraft like this, creates huge opportunities for our people and it creates employment. And we believe this will create thousands of jobs and thousands of promotional opportunities."
"Project Sunrise" began back in 2017 when Qantas issued a Tweet challenging the two major aircraft developers, Boeing and Airbus, to offer an aircraft that could fly non-stop between Sydney, London and New York.
Christian Scherer, Chief Commercial Officer at Airbus, says his company jumped at the opportunity.
"We at Airbus immediately responded via a Tweet, as we accepted this impeccable challenge. And it did set the tone for an exciting and most creative campaign, as we call it, that caught the imagination of the aviation world and beyond it, the travelling public, all over the world."
Neil Hensford is chairman of Strategic Aviation Solutions.
He says this deal will open up opportunities for Qantas to compete more aggressively in the international market.
"What it does is on the Kangaroo route, which is basically the route to Europe, basically it's never been a high-profit route. It's always been too many people serving it that are on it, and now it gives Qantas a very clear advantage because the A380 won't do it, so Emirates won't be able to climb into this market, Singapore Airlines haven't ordered the 1000, so it does give Qantas an advantage."
But he warns that travellers should not expect prices to return to pre-COVID levels.
"What we've got to understand is this aircraft is a very expensive aircraft and you're not going to go and get cheap fares for people to go and have their economy trip and their bucket and spade holiday in Europe. From an economy point of view, it could well be 25 per cent higher than what it is for the A380."
Meanwhile domestically, the Qantas Group will start to renew its narrow-body jets as part of 'Project Winton', making firm orders for 40 new Airbus carriers as the Boeing 737s and 717s are retired.
The first of these aircraft will start arriving in late 2023, with the order including purchase-right options for another 94 aircraft over the next 12 years.
These announcements have been made as Qantas issues a trading update, which shows a strong recovery in travel demand as Australia transitions to living with COVID.
Mr Joyce says the group's net debt is now down to $4.5 billion at the end of April 2022, after a peak of more than $6.4 billion at the height of border closures.
"And we always said that Qantas needed to transform to survive. We were 11 weeks from going bankrupt at 2020, but we also had to do this to make sure we took the opportunities when the market recovered, and we could grab those opportunities."
Qantas also says this new fleet of aircraft will align with the airline's dedication to lowering emissions.
Report by Brooke Young
