Behind the Hype of Qantas' Grand Plans to Fly Nonstop to London and New York
Skift Take
You have to give Qantas some credit for its public relations strategy. It will be at least four years before the airline launches "hub-busting" flights to New York or London from Sydney but the airline already has almost everyone in the airline industry talking about its plans.
If Qantas flies nonstop from Sydney to London by 2022 as it hopes, it wants to revolutionize the travel experience, possibly using new seat designs, even in economy class, and perhaps installing berths in the cargo hold or adding onboard bars and other amenities, executives said Monday at a briefing in Sydney.
"All things are on the table right now as we work through the development phase," Alison Webster, CEO of the airline's international division, said in a discussion at the IATA Annual General Meeting, a conference of airline executives. "This is about re-imaging how long-haul travel will take place."
On specifics, Qantas executives played it coy, as they have since last summer, when they outlined their challenge
