Originally Posted by
tdracer
No idea what Qantas is considering for Project Sunrise, but Singapore went with a 100% premium product on their Singapore LAX and JFK service (A340-500) - basically all business class. They also charged a premium above the normal business class for the same route with a stop. I looked into the LAX-SIN nonstop once and IIRC it was about $1000 more than the normal business class fare.
Seemed to work for them...
They have reinstated this route with business and premium economy using the A359. Considering the very tight balance between fuel load and payload I would foresee a premium heavy bias to the configuration that is finally chosen for the Ultra-ULH Sunrise aircraft. There's no advantage to putting low-yield passengers on the aircraft, as we have seen with PER-LHR it is considerably more expensive to fly non-stop, but some punters will pay the premium and they are the ones you want to cherry pick. Leave the rest to go via hubs where you can create an economy of scale.