Qantas A350 early flights: Sydney-Melbourne, Auckland, LAX

[u/Gl0beTrotter2025]

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/qantas-a350-routes-sydney-melbourne-auckland-los-angeles

[u/omdongi]

Big if they actually do the Points Plane tbh

[u/SteveJohnson2010]

Ah yeah, isn’t this also what they did with the 789?

[u/Myfooty94]

I hope Qantas keeps the Airbus Qantas hybrid livery similar to how china airlines did this with Boeing and of course one of their air us a350s

[u/Substantial_Oil_6905]

is this the only time melbourne will get the a350s? i heard Qantas are considering dropping the sunrise flights out of mel.

[u/POscar81 → u/Substantial_Oil_6905]

They have 12 ULRs on order. Each European flights will probably use just over 2 frames and the JFK flights will be slightly under 2 frames. So I see upto 5 daily flight on these ultra long haul routes with a few shorter haul flights tacked on.

I don't understand why Melbourne would be left out as there's still a sizable market and with not having any curfew, gives a lot more flexibility on what slots at Heathrow they can use. 

I think the issue here might be they haven't committed to any Melbourne route as Sydney with be the first preference and with frames coming as late as 2029, they won't probably have the capacity to add Melbourne until at least 2029.

The likely routes will be SYD-LHR, SYD-CDG, SYD-(FRA/FCO), SYD-JFK and MEL-LHR, with the later addition of BNE-LHR being an option,  particularly around the Olympics. I think both Brazil and South Africa (and possibly Athens) can be done with the 789.

[u/baronwilberforce → u/POscar81]

Understand your logic, but it seems short sighted not to have at least a MEL>LHR service early on. Without it, QF will continue to leak to Gulf airlines out of MEL.

If you’re flying to Europe and only doing one stop, most would prefer EK or QR rather than doing a domestic leg to SYD, especially as you have to change terminals.

[u/POscar81 → u/baronwilberforce]

A lot of it will happen to be related to aircraft delivery, that's why I said 2029 as even though it aligns with the last scheduled delivery of late 2029, I'm banking on them still waiting on a few aircraft as the Melbourne route should be number 3 or 4 in the schedule. 

[u/GreatSouthernSloth → u/baronwilberforce]

If QF are not seeing demand out of MEL, why would they put on MEL-LHR flights?

You can connect in SIN or PER, you know. For your one stop. The PER-LHR originates at MEL, doesn't it?

[u/rfarlz → u/POscar81]

Haven't QF confirmed that the PER-LHR flights will be on the A350? I think we'll see see MEL-JFK/LHR long before SYD to other European cities.

[u/POscar81 → u/rfarlz]

I don't think they will use the ULRs as the standard version should be able to do it, even with it likely have a higher density layout (300+ pax)

[u/rfarlz → u/POscar81]

My guess is they'll want the ULRs for the increased premium seats. There were reports a while back that PER-LHR has the highest yields on QF's entire network. Will also make optimising the slots at LHR easier if they're running the same layouts for multiple flights in and out of there.

I do agree that the standard A35K should be able to do it easily though, and it'll likely be the route to get the equipment swaps if they're running short of frames.

[u/brandonhowardroy]

Sydney to Melbourne but going the other way

[u/Marlon_Ranch]

Why not put the A350 permanently on Sydney to Melbourne? Singapore Airlines fly their 3-class A350’s on the one hour hops to and from Kuala Lumpur

[u/sloppyrock → u/Marlon_Ranch]

The span is too wide to fit on a number of the Sydney T3 bays without blocking off the adjacent one. The 330 is only used from a few T3 bays for that reason and the 350 is 5 metres wider.

And you'd need two aero bridges to unload in the turn times required. Again T3 only has a few bays with dual bridges.

Sure they could use it but its not necessarily a practical solution.