Qantas completed a nonstop test flight from New York to Sydney Sunday, researching how the world's longest potential commercial airplane journey of nearly 20 hours would impact pilots, crew and passengers. Carrying 50 passengers and crew on board, Qantas Flight 7879 on a new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner touched down in Sydney Sunday morning after a 16,200-kilometre journey which lasted 19 hours 16 minutes. "This is a really historic moment for Qantas…and a really historic moment for world aviation," Qantas CE Alan Joyce, who took the flight, said after landing. No commercial aircraft as of yet has the range to fly such an ultra-long haul with a full passenger and cargo load. To give the plane the needed range, the Qantas flight took off with maximum fuel, only a few passengers, restricted baggage load and no cargo. <br/>
oneworld
Qantas is likely to launch its Project Sunrise flights on a commercial basis from 2023, and believes the initiative could lead to multiple ultra-long-haul routes to Australia from Europe and North America. "The plan we're working towards is making a decision on the business case by the end of this year," said CE Alan Joyce. "And it will likely be [launched] from 2023 when the aircraft are available." Joyce says the airline wants to operate the ultra-long-haul flights daily. "We know the demand is there, we know people are interested in it, we know people want to fly these and save the time," he says. Qantas also needs to ensure its on-board product is suitable, he says. The airline is looking to configure the Project Sunrise aircraft with 4 classes, which will include a special area for economy passengers to be able to exercise. <br/>
Qatar Airways and LATAM Airlines Brazil have expanded their codeshare agreement, which began Oct 15. The partnership enhances connectivity between Doha-based Qatar’s hub via LATAM’s hubs in São Paulo Guarulhos (Brazil) to destinations throughout Brazil and South America, including Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Curitiba (Brazil); Lima and Bogota. LATAM passengers will be able to travel on Qatar Airways’ flights via Doha with onward connections to more than 25 destinations in the Middle East, East Africa and South Asia. While Qatar Airways and LATAM are members of oneworld, LATAM is in the process of leaving oneworld after SkyTeam alliance member Delta Air Lines took a 20% stake in LATAM Sept 26. Qatar Airways, is still considering withdrawing its oneworld alliance membership. <br/>
Cathay Pacific Airways continues to see passenger numbers fall in September as anti-govt protests in Hong Kong drag into the 20th week. In September, Cathay carried 2.4m passengers, down 7.1% year-over-year, while passenger growth (RPKs) was up a scant 0.1%. Cathay Pacific Group chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam warned the carrier’s second-half financial results would be worse than the first half. While Cathay said it would reduce capacity and down-gauge some routes, ASKs increased 9.8% in September; as a result, load factors were down 7.2 pts to 73.6%. Lam said Cathay is taking “‘short-term tactical” measures, especially at the end of October to the end of the March 2020 winter season. <br/>
Cathay Pacific shelved plans to sell its first US dollar bonds in more than 2 decades after receiving lukewarm interest from potential investors, according to people familiar with the matter. The airline has struggled with steep declines in passenger numbers in recent months and was embroiled in controversy after some of its employees took part in anti-govt protests in Hong Kong. Cathay recently raised US$102m via a private placement of 3-year bonds denominated in the city’s local currency. The company said it would continue to monitor the US dollar bond market in the future. Cathay “came to check on what the pricing could be because they haven’t issued a bond in years, and found out that it wasn’t where they thought it would be,” said a person familiar with the process. <br/>