Qantas Airways Ltd. is cranking up the rivalry between Boeing Co. and Airbus SE in the hunt for aircraft to undertake unprecedented 20-hour trips halfway around the world.
The Australian airline plans to fly non-stop from Sydney to New York and London by 2022, marathon routes that will be the world’s longest commercial services. As the two aerospace giants pitch to supply planes for the flights, Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce is squeezing the arch-rivals for every dollar to make ‘Project Sunrise,’ as he calls it, viable.
Amplifying competition for plane orders is standard practice in what’s largely a two-player manufacturing market. But Joyce faces extra pressures: he’s trying to make money on routes that he calls the last frontier in aviation, and he’s set a deadline for this year to place an order for aircraft. Already, the rising cost of fuel is shredding profitability on his international routes.
