Non-stop flights to distant destinations like New York, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town are set to become a reality for Australian flyers within a decade.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has challenged Boeing and Airbus to produce long-haul aircraft capable of flying the distance.
The national carrier already has an order for eight new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, with the first due to arrive in Sydney from Seattle this Friday.
Non-stop flights to destinations like New York, Rio de Janeiro (pictured) and Cape Town could be a reality for Australian flyers within five years
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has challenged Boeing and Airbus to produce a long-haul aircraft capable of flying the distance (pictured is Cape Town)
Those planes will be put to use flying direct between Melbourne and Los Angeles, followed by Perth to London starting in March next year, The Daily Telegraph.
‘We want to fly direct into New York and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. We’d also love to be able to fly direct to Cape Town,’ said Mr Joyce at Boeing’s Seattle headquarters.
‘This challenge is feasible and will allow us to get aircraft in the next decade to do something that we have dreamt about, and it will change the game, economically, for Qantas and for Australians.’
The US aircraft manufacturing giant is working on a new carrier, the 777X, which can fly from Sydney to New York without stopping – but without cargo or passengers.
The national carrier already has an order of eight brand new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, with the first due to arrive in Sydney from Seattle this Friday (pictured is New York)
Those planes will be put to use flying direct between Melbourne and Los Angeles, followed by Perth to London (pictured) starting in March next year
Airbus has its own A350 in development, and Mr Joyce likens the competition between Airbus and Boeing to the space race.
Mr Joyce wants the east coast of Australia to be linked to Europe with direct flights by 2022, and said an airliner capable of doing that direct would be revolutionary.
Boeing’s massive Seattle factory – the largest building in the world by volume – pumps out planes at the rate of one every 15 days.
Operating 24 hours a day, the 40 hectare warehouse has 35,000 employees putting Boeing’s aircraft together.
Mr Joyce has previously said ultra long-haul flights are a long-term goal for Australia’s national carrier.
‘This is the last frontier in global aviation, this is the antidote to the tyranny of distance and a revolution for air travel in Australia,’ he said in August.
‘We want to fly direct into New York and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil,’ said Qantas CEO Mr Joyce during a visit to Boeing headquarters in Seattle (pictured is a Qantas Boeing 737-800)