Qantas: All the news agents need to know

The folks over at Qantas have had an incredibly busy week, and we’re predicting some 5pm Friday cocktails will be on the cards for the team.

There are changes afoot in the aviation industry, as Qantas began shopping for the aircraft it will use for its non-stop flights from Australia’s east coast to New York and London.

Airbus and Boeing are vying for the winning title, with both offering their finest planes to Qantas for what the airline is calling its “Project Sunrise”.

The route is set to take flight in 2022 and will be a major shakeup in aviation when begins.

Speaking at the window shopping party – not really, but that’s how we’re imagining it – Airbus’ head of A350 marketing Marisa Lucas-Ugena said the company was “having very interesting conversations with Qantas” about the project.

“We are evaluating what they want and they are evaluating what they [the A350] can do,” Lucas-Ugena said

“We are very well placed – we designed the aeroplane to cover long-haul routes, they have the efficiency to cover the market, and they have the comfort needed for a good flight experience on such a long flight.”

Speaking of planes, Qantas has also invested in a US start-up whose sole focus is to fill up the extra seats on planes.

Great news for airlines, bad news for flyers wanting to stretch out.

The company, Volantino, has developed software designed for airlines which, according to Business Insider, “identifies flexible passengers on high demand flights, make them offers to move to lower demand flights, and automatically rebook them once they accept”.

Speaking on the investment, Qantas Group Executive, Strategy, Innovation and Technology Rob Marcolina said: “The travel industry and customer needs continue to evolve and investments in innovations like Volantio are important to ensure we keep exploring ideas, disrupting the status quo and discovering new ways of working to deliver better outcomes for our business and our customers.”

“Volantio is a great example of the impact that investment in scale-ups can make.”

And finally, last but not least, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has urged Darwin to become more competitive against its overseas neighbours in terms of tourism.

Following the announcement of a $103 million package by the Territory Labor Government which aims to boost the Northern Territory’s tourism, as well as a promise by the government to drive own flight costs, Joyce said the local government has to do more to ensure visitors come.

“Some people say ‘Build it and they will come’. No, they won’t,” he said.

“You have to have the infrastructure, you need to have the marketing right to encourage people to come to this destination.”

“Tourism is very competitive. The NT and Darwin are competing against places like Bali which is very cheap and has great infrastructure behind it.”

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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