The Qantas Airways company said on Friday it had opted for Airbus SE to become its jet supplier of the flights from Sydney to London, leaving the competing Boeing company out of the deal.
The company has chosen 12 A350-1000 planes with an additional fuel tank for the world's longest commercial flights of up to 21 hours.
#ProjectSunrise update: We’ve selected the Airbus A350-1000 as our preferred aircraft for our plans to fly non-stop from the east coast of Australia to #London and #NewYork. Read more here: https://t.co/II4zzkT9Nz pic.twitter.com/QWDTGMFJeb
— Qantas (@Qantas) December 12, 2019
“The A350 is a fantastic aircraft and the deal on the table with Airbus gives us the best possible combination of commercial terms, fuel efficiency, operating cost and customer experience”, Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said.
He added that the airline “had a lot of confidence” in the market for non-stop services from Sydney to London and to New York based on two years of flying from Perth to London.
Christian Scherer, the Airbus Chief Commercial Officer, has expressed his gratitude to Qantas for such a choice, with a Boeing spokesman saying it was dissatisfied with the decision but looked forward to continuing its partnership with Qantas Airways.
