As Qantas yesterday flew to San Francisco for the first time in more than a decade, chief financial officer Peter Gregg said talks were continuing with manufacturers about using ultra-long-range planes to open up additional destinations in the US and Europe.
"We haven't given up on that," Mr Gregg said. "They weren't able to meet our needs in the first round but we're back out now talking to both manufacturers about the aircraft - the 777-200LR and the A340-500E.
"The possibilities of us flying to a destination like Dallas are very much on our drawing board."
Mr Gregg said Qantas was still interested in ultra-long-range aircraft capable of flying nonstop to London and New York but the planes currently could not do this with the required number of passengers.
But it was also looking at destinations to which the aircraft could fly fully loaded with 300-plus passengers.
"If you put it into a place like Dallas, which is direct into American's hub, you access their entire network," Mr Gregg said. "So the feed there is quite exciting. You get east coast America as well."
Mr Gregg said Qantas was also looking at several European destinations within range of the two ultra-long-haul aircraft.
He said a decision would depend on the economics of the aircraft but Qantas hoped to make a decision "sooner rather than later", with an approach to the board possible as early as May.
"Last time we asked them to specify the aircraft with a very long range," he said. "We're now asking them to specify the aircraft with a heavier load.
"We'll work out the seat-mile costs but we'll say (to the manufacturers): 'This is what we are trying to achieve'."
Yesterday's Sydney-San Francisco flight means Qantas now operates 43 return flights a week to he US, 40 of them to the mainland. They include 21 from Sydney, 14 from Melbourne and five from Brisbane.
The new flights and a new on-service to Vancouver in peak season brings the airline's North American destinations to five, with the other three being Los Angeles, New York and Honolulu.
Mr Gregg said the initial response to the new flights had been encouraging. It was a natural stopover point for Australians, with good connections to other US cities through American, and there was interest from the US market.
"This is a natural market for Australia when you think about northern California," he said. "There is a sister city relationship."
The Qantas strategy chief said the carrier planned to increase to daily services once it had some new aircraft.
He said delivery of the first A380s, scheduled for next April and destined to start service on the Los Angeles route, would free up 747-400s for use on the San Francisco route. San Francisco was the first mainland destination served by Qantas in 1954 after it took over the operations of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines. It stopped flying to the destination in 1995 when it moved its US headquarters to Los Angeles.
The airline also has longer-term plans to fly Jetstar International to the US using its new Boeing 767-9 aircraft.
NSW Tourism Minister Sandra Nori, who was also in San Francisco yesterday, said the new flights opened a high-yielding market of people who wanted to visit Australia.
NSW officials estimate the service will add $50 million a year to the economy. "There's been under-capacity both ways in the US for some time," Ms Nori said. "So these additional flights will mean those people who have been aspiring to come to Australia and Sydney will find it easier to do so.
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Can anyone forsee Jetstar International flying into Los Angles and Qantas building a huge hub in Dallas?
I'm not quite sure how you would envision a "huge hub in Dallas" for QF, that's what AA is for. I'd expect a daily flight from SYD and potentially some MEL flying since there is so much potential feed for that flight in the US. It all comes down to finding an aircraft with sufficent range and payload capabilities.
As for Jetstar Intl in LA, I think it's highly possible on some routes that can't support a large premium cabin, but SYD-LAX would be the last route I'd expect. Maybe the BNE service would switch over or even a new CNS tourist-heavy flight (just guessing, no actual clue about this one). It would seem that HNL flying would be a natural Jetstar market.
Posted by: PGTravel | March 31, 2006 9:06 AM | Permalink to Comment