Originally Posted by
Fonz121
As to the 350s, it’s hard to say at the moment. There are all sorts of rumours swirling around. As Window Heat mentioned, the fuel tanks required for the range are causing issues. Apparently adding too much weight. I’ve heard that they’re thinking about scrapping it for the moment just to get the aircraft on the line, but that’s just a rumour and I feel like management would rather save face and keep persevering with something that might not even be possible.
The standard A350-1000 range without the extra fuel tank would be just enough to do SYD-JFK, and maybe MEL too but with potentially a few less pax. There’s also the 350-900ULR that’s already in service with SQ and has the extra range of the -1000ULR, but sacrifices some passenger capacity. So there’s options on the routes to NYC.
The real issue I think is to LHR. The track flies straight over a nation that is currently politically unviable for any Australian airline to fly over, lest alone they need to make an emergency landing in that nation. Flying a track away that doesn’t go over that country would be too much of a stretch, even for the -1000ULR.
As it looks like the pariah status of that nation won’t be changing for the foreseeable future I doubt that’ll become an option before the flights were due to start.