Long term that probably means the 777X is the likely Sunrise aeroplane given the ability to rapidly transition crews between those types. I'm not sure if the 777/ 787 do common fleet flying though so perhaps that is a fly in the ointment.
Of course that could still go either way. If CASA say 'no' to 787/ 777X Common fleet flying but say 'yes' to the A350ULR/ A330 common fleet flying then that could swing things back towards the A350 option. It depends a bit on whether Airbus want to come to the party and offer up A330NEO/ A350s at a cost that doesn't exceed what Qantas has paid for the 787s.
So my heart wants the A350 as it'd be great to do domestic one week and then head over to NYC or LHR the next week as part of A330/A350 CFF but my head says long term QF is headed back towards being an all Boeing fleet.
Hey Keg,
With regard to CFF on the A330 and A350. When Delta Air Lines asked the FAA about the possibility, they were told; ‘of course you can, but let’s discuss recency of experience and currency requirements’. Long story short; the requirements were onerous enough, the solution complex enough, and most importantly the training cost high enough; the idea was binned. United Airlines operates separate 787 and 777 fleets for a number of reasons. One of which is the recency on each type. Being long haul aircraft, with heavy crew makes the issue more complex.
The 777X and 787 is an interesting question. Boeing will have to keep it similar enough to the legacy 777 in order to allow crew to move seamlessly between both aircraft. If they can achieve that
and enough similarity to the 787, perhaps the picture will be different.
All of this presupposes that CASA will behave in a similar fashion to the FAA. Interestingly, the ever malleable Hong Kong CAA allow CFF on the A330/A350 at Cathay. However, I don’t think that’s a perfect model to predict CASA response. Maybe.
Cheers