Qantas gears up for Project Sunrise tests, announces profit decline
Australian carrier Qantas said it was gearing up to test its “Project Sunrise” flights with three test runs over three months. The airline also announced its most recent results and said its full-year net profit for FY2019 fell 6.5 percent as higher fuel costs and weak domestic travel demand cut into revenues. The airline on Thursday (22 August) said its profit after tax for the year to June 30 was A$891 million (US$602.4 million). On an underlying basis, Qantas’ profit before tax was A$1.3 billion, a fall of 17 percent. Qantas said the result was driven by a A$612 million increase in its fuel bill, plus another A$154 million headwind from the weak Australian dollar.
On the long-haul front, Qantas said it would use the occasion of deliveries of new Boeing 787-9s to test ultra-long-haul flights that it has been planning for years. The airline hopes to make flights from the east coast of Australia (Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne) to New York and London a reality and will use the three planned test flights to gather data about inflight passenger and crew health and wellbeing.
The three test flights will use new Boeing 787-9s and re-route their planned delivery flights. Instead of flying empty from Seattle to Australia, the aircraft will simulate two Project Sunrise routes – London and New York to Sydney. This will represent the world’s first flight by a commercial airline direct from New York to Sydney and only the second time a commercial airline has flown direct from London to Sydney, Qantas said.
Each flight will have a maximum of 40 people, including crew, in order to minimise weight and give the necessary fuel range. Carbon emissions from the flights will be fully offset. The on-board research is being designed in partnership with Sydney University’s Charles Perkins Centre and Monash University in conjunction with CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity.
People in the cabin – mostly Qantas employees – will be fitted with wearable technology devices and take part in specific experiences at varying stages of the approximately 19-hour flights. Scientists and medical experts from the Charles Perkins Centre will monitor sleep patterns, food and beverage consumption, lighting, physical movement and inflight entertainment to assess impact on health, wellbeing and body clock.
Monash University researchers will work with pilots to record crew melatonin levels before, during and after the flights. Pilots will wear an EEG (electroencephalogram) device that tracks brain wave patterns and monitors alertness. The aim is to establish data to assist in building the optimum work and rest pattern for pilots operating long haul services.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the flights will give medical experts the chance to do real-time research that will translate into health and wellbeing benefits. “Ultra-long haul flying presents a lot of common sense questions about the comfort and wellbeing of passengers and crew. These flights are going to provide invaluable data to help answer them. For customers, the key will be minimising jet lag and creating an environment where they are looking forward to a restful, enjoyable flight. For crew, it’s about using scientific research to determine the best opportunities to promote alertness when they are on duty and maximise rest during their down time on these flights.”
“Flying non-stop from the East Coast of Australia to London and New York is truly the final frontier in aviation, so we’re determined to do all the groundwork to get this right.”
Airbus and Boeing have both pitched aircraft (A350 and 777X) to Qantas that are capable of operating Project Sunrise flights with a viable commercial payload. A final decision on Project Sunrise – which depends on aircraft economics, regulatory approvals and industrial agreements – is expected by the end of December 2019.
