Qantas' London Sydney non-stop flight touches down after 19 hour-plus flight. Video / Grant Bradley
When Qantas begins flying between Auckland and New York in mid-June, it will stretch its rivalry with Air New Zealand to new lengths.
The non-stop route is the fifth-longest in the world currently operating and a rare example of airlines going head-to-head on such a long segment.
Air New Zealandstarted flying the route last September, nine months ahead of Qantas. They will both fly three times a week, but operate on different days.
The Qantas flights will originate in Sydney, stop off in Auckland, then head on to New York’s JFK Airport.
Qantas is working with the travel trade, hosting a function for the industry and offering prizes to agents who book flights for the next two months.
Having two rivals on the same route should be great news for consumers, although there’s no sign yet of tactical activity (otherwise known as cheaper fares) from the newcomer or Air New Zealand, which has said it will vigorously defend the route. This could mean greater frequency if it has enough planes and staff available, and/or dropping prices.
Air New Zealand has enjoyed strong demand on the route, despite some high-profile glitches. Victoria Courtney, general manager of product at Flight Centre, is hopeful that tactical fares will come.
“From a consumer perspective, hopefully they will manage price points.”
The industry booking system shows both airlines are offering return business-class fares in August for about $11,000.
A snapshot of prices on airlines’ websites doesn’t take into account whether they are down to selling the last few seats on any given day - always the more expensive option. However, for a journey from early to mid-August, the cheapest return economy seats on Qantas are around $2315, $350 less than on Air NZ.
Courtney says demand for both airlines has been strong.
“There’s been really strong demand from Kiwi consumers on the New York route - it sits at sort of third or fourth most-popular US destination for what we’re selling at the moment. We’re not having any problems selling New York.”
With fewer flights at present through Asia to Europe, more passengers were flying there via the US, including through New York, where she says Qantas has an advantage with its OneWorld partners American Airlines and British Airways offering better connections.
While the two airlines’ Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners are the same, their cabins are different. Qantas planes are designed specifically for ultra-long-haul routes.
Its planes have 236 seats while the aircraft Air NZ uses on its longest flights have 275. While there’s not much difference in seat pitch and passenger space in economy, in business class the airlines offer a much different product.
Air NZ’s outdated herringbone layout offers little privacy and will be replaced in the next few years, while Qantas’ business class is more conventional, roomier and offers more privacy. The seats in its Dreamliner business class are almost identical to those on the A330s the airline operates across the Tasman.
Its Dreamliners are premium-rich, with 42 seats in business class (where airlines enjoy stronger yields) compared to 27 in business class on Air NZ’s long-range planes.
Courtney is diplomatic.
“There’s a different positive response around the Qantas product, especially when compared to the Air New Zealand one - obviously, they’ve got their refit plans.”
The Dreamliners that Air New Zealand has on order will also have more premium seating (42 business class seats also) for its longest routes. The airline is also spending more than $400m on retrofitting its existing fleet of 14 Dreamliners, and in internal communication concedes that its crew have to do the “heavy lifting” as its hard product lags other airlines.
Courtney says Qantas will not only have the advantage of operating a plane especially configured for such long routes, but it can also learn from some of the problems Air New Zealand has faced.
Qantas already flies a Boeing 787 Dreamliner service between Perth and London. Photo / Getty Images
It has struck strong jetstream headwinds and has had to gas and go in Fiji, offload passengers and bags in New York and restrict its payload to as few as 180 passengers. Last month, a plane turned back mid-Pacific after a fire at JFK Airport.
Air New Zealand cut its teeth on ultra-long-range flying into the heart of the US with flights to Houston and then the 13,200km service to Chicago, but Qantas has a strong pedigree in marathon flights too. Its Perth-London and Melbourne-Dallas Fort Worth are the third- and fourth-longest operating now.
In the lead-up to its even longer Project Sunrise flights, it has extensively researched the effects of jetlag on passengers and crew.
House of Travel chief operating officer Dave Fordyce said the firm’s agents were reporting positive feedback from regular and business customers who appreciated the cabin layout with a good proportion of premium seats, “lessening the likelihood of disruption during these longer routes and helping with load factors.”
Qantas has said the Sydney-Auckland-New York flight is not just a placeholder for its Project Sunrise Sydney-New York nonstop from 2025.
“We think they could complement each other and potentially serve slightly different markets,” chief executive Alan Joyce said when the service was launched last August.
