Originally Posted by
Icarus2001
Well not really. For every pairing the overseas airline could run a similar (or better) type the other way. So a UK airline could run UK to Perth. Or a US airline could run direct to BN or SYD. If overseas airlines see a market to exploit they will.
Not so sure it's that simple. Qantas is configuring the 787s for this specific task, which based on PER-LHR-PER and MEL-LAX-MEL is profitable. I think the clincher may be that to use the 787 on anything else would require a higher density configuration to provide an adequate return. The overseas airlines would face the same problem and I'm guessing their reluctance might be based on running a similar aircraft and configuration which then excludes that airframe from being viable on their many other routes, whereas for QF this is not a problem because they are only using the aircraft on those specific routes. Of course, when ULH aircraft like the 777-8X become available that advantage might disappear.