Qantas has today pulled back the covers on the first details and renderings of the new First and Business class cabins that will be fitted to their ‘Project Sunrise’ A350-1000s. These A350s, with these cabins, will be making the long treks from east coast of Australia to far-flung destinations such as New York and London.
Given these are massively long flights, Qantas has decided to put in new, upgraded First and Business class products. The early renderings released today look good, particularly the First class suites. The A350s will be 4-class, but Qantas isn’t revealing the updated Premium Economy and Economy class cabins yet.
Qantas has partnered with industrial design studio Caon Design helmed by David Caon, and multidisciplinary team of scientists from University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre. This isn’t the first time Qantas and David Caon have collaborated, the 787 cabins were also designed by David Caon.
The A350s will be configured with 6 First suites, 50 Business suites, 40 Premium Economy and 140 Economy seats. Personally, I wouldn’t want to stuck in any of those 140 Economy seats, but we’ll see what Qantas comes up with. Here’s a look at the layout of Qantas’ A350s:
Let’s take a more detailed look at the new First and Business suites, and I’ll share my thoughts on each product as we go along as well.
Background on ‘Project Sunrise’
Firstly, a bit of history on ‘Project Sunrise’. First announced in 2017, ‘Project Sunrise’ is Qantas’ plan for nonstop flights from the east coast of Australia to previously unreachable key markets, such as New York, London and Europe in general. Of course, the pandemic has delayed Qantas’ plans quite a bit. However, the strong post-pandemic breathed new life and energy into the ‘Project Sunshine’ plans.
In 2022, those plans became more concrete as Qantas finally selected the A350-1000 as the aircraft to bring ‘Project Sunrise’ to life. With the order for 12 aircraft, Qantas now expects the ‘Project Sunrise’ routes to commence in late-2025, starting with Sydney to London and New York.
These routes will shade the longest routes currently operated, namely Singapore Airline’s nonstop flights from Singapore to New York (both JFK and Newark). I’ve done SIA’s flights in both business and premium economy. It’s bearable, but I wouldn’t want to do it on a regular basis. Still, it’s exciting to see Qantas push the boundaries of what’s possibly in commercial aviation.
Qantas New First Class
Qantas will put in new First class suites on the A350s, in a 1-1-1 configuration. These suites represent a significant upgrade on their current First class product, only found on the A380s. As expected of First class nowadays, it’s a fully enclosed suite, with 1.4m high walls and a sliding door. That’s actually not a very high wall, so it remains to be seen how private the suite will be.
The big highlight of the suite, in my opinion, is the separate seat and bed. This is a direction that leading First class suites have been trending in the last couple, so it’s no surprise to see Qantas go in that direction as well. The seat is 22″ wide, while the bed maxes out at 2m long. Other standout features of the suite include a full-length wardrobe, USB-C (plus USB-A) and wireless charging outlets. Buddy dining will be possible, presumably using the ottoman for the seat. The inflight entertainment touchscreen gets a bump up to 32″, a 14″ increase from the A380. Personally given the size of the suite, I doubt the touchsreen will come in useful, but better have the feature than not I guess. Bluetooth pairing for personal headphones will be a feature as well, throughout the aircraft and not just in First.
Design wise, the colour palette looks a bit sterile, particularly the fabric colours. I wonder whether the light colours will be tough to maintain, especially the fabric. The wood finishes do help provide some contrast though. I don’t know if Qantas feels these colours help increase comfort and minimise jetlag, but it all looks a little bland to me.
Qantas new First suite is pretty much in line with recent developments we’ve seen in First class, with the separate seat and bed in a fully enclosed suite. The walls are little lower than desired I feel, with airlines such as Emirates and Lufthansa’s to-be-introduced “Allegris” First class suite boasting near full-height walls. The colour palette is also somewhat uninspiring. Nonetheless, it’s a very strong offering and I’m sure any passenger would be very comfortable in these suites, even on the extremely long sectors the A350-1000 will operate.
Qantas New Business Class
Business class will also see a significant upgrade compared to the current product on the A380s and 787s. The new seats will be configured in a staggered 1-2-1 arrangement, utilising the Safran Unity base, heavily customised by David Caon of course.
The new Business suite will be fully enclosed as well, with 47″ (approx 1.2m) high walls and a sliding door. The suite will be 42″ wide (1.07m), while the seat itself will be 25″ wide (63.5cm). The seat will extend to form a 2m long bed. The inflight entertainment monitor is an 18″ touchscreen, a slight increase on the current 16″ of the A380/787 seat. Travellers nowadays carry and use loads of stuff onboard, so there’s plenty of storage, including an upholstered gearbox on the front edge of the side console. The ottoman will also have storage space under the leather cushion.
Tech-wise, there’s Bluetooth pairing for headphones as mentioned earlier, as well USB-A, USB-C and wireless charging, similar to the First suite.
The colour palette is a little more appealing, with the burgundy console adding colourful contrast to light fabrics. That, coupled with the wood finish, makes the seat look quite elegant and refined.
With this new Business suite, Qantas has again largely followed the current trend of business class by going with an enclosed suite. The overall product isn’t particularly innovative or cutting edge. It’s certainly near class-leading, but not on the level of Qatar’s Qsuite or ANA’s ‘The Room’, in my opinion. It’s hard to predict how business class will evolve by late-2025 when this finally goes into service, but it should still be competitive. As with the new First suite, I’d expect most passengers to be pretty satisfied with this product.
What Else To Expect from Qantas’ A350s?
With today’s announcement, we’ve got a look at the new First and Business products. Premium Economy and Economy are still to come, but to be honest unless we see something like Air New Zealand’s Skynest, there’s not much to innovate there.
We do know that there will be a ‘Wellbeing Zone’ for all passengers. It’ll be an area for passengers to move about and pick up inflight refreshments. Bluetooth connectivity as mentioned, will be a feature across all four classes. Passengers will also be able to access free high-speed inflight WiFi through Viasat. Qantas currently offers free WiFi to all passengers on its domestic flights, so it’s great to see them expand it to their international network. I’m sure many passengers will start to get itchy fingers on the long treks from Sydney to London and New York, so Qantas is doing a good job offering free WiFi.
Conclusion
Qantas has unveiled the First and Business class suites that will be fitted to their A350-1000s for ‘Project Sunrise’. These will be found on ultra long haul east coast Australia to London and New York routes, starting late-2025. The products generally look good, though not necessarily that innovative and cutting edge. I think most passengers should find these seats comfortable and appropriate for their needs. I’d definitely love to get on one of the Project Sunrise A350 flights in future, as long as its in one of these seats!
Featured image source: Qantas