Is there anything worse than sitting in the same old Business Class year after year? Well, yes: you could be in Economy. Either way, if you are on one of Qantas’ Project Sunrise flights (should the project go ahead, a decision that will be taken in March this year) DMARGE has been told you will see an “entire new” cabin design.
Speaking to Amanda Bolger, head of Qantas’ Media & Communications department, DMARGE asked a number of questions about the new Project Sunrise jets and their potential cabin design, following last year’s December announcement that Qantas has selected the Airbus A350-1000 as the preferred aircraft over the Boeing 777X.
“No orders have been placed but Qantas will work closely with Airbus to prepare contract terms for up to 12 aircraft ahead of a final decision by the Qantas Board,” (Qantas).
Amanda confirmed to DMARGE, if it goes ahead, this will be the first-ever A350-1000 order Qantas has ever placed. She also said, “It will be an entire new cabin design for each class, a new opportunity to rethink the ideal cabin environment based on the ultra long haul nature of the Project Sunrise flights.”
This will be based on “the popularity of current cabin design elements” as well as “customer feedback, design innovation opportunities and consultation with our customer experience and design experts… such as David [Caon]” that is already going on.
It will also take into account requirements for space. For example, in Economy, Amanda told us, “We are already talking about the need for ‘stretching space’ to be incorporated into the cabin design.”
At the time of writing, there are no solid indications for what extra features premium cabin passengers might see. But here at DMARGE we’d be keen to see something like the Vantage XL seats of the current Qantas Business Suite, combined with a sliding door or partition like the Qatar Airways Qsuite, which seems to be becoming an industry-standard feature in Business.
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We’d also like to see something absolutely outrageous in First, although we acknowledge in this era where more people are flying Premium Economy and Business than ever, and fewer and fewer people are opting for First, this is unlikely.
Oh and a bar, like Qantas did with the multi-million dollar A380 makeover, which was unveiled last October, would be a nice touch too.