But EZE has gone and JNB is a 744 route anyway, so it may not make that much of a difference. In any case, if Airbus is selected, I think it will be A350s, not A340s. Airbus has already said that the 345 can't do SYD-LHR.
That said, Airbus is certainly competing on price, with some reports of $85m for A350s, which - for an aircraft to be delivered about 5 yrs down the road, is peanuts; one might even suggest it's dumping and with the whole fracas over Airbus subsidies, that might be something which could fly back in Airbus's face. But leaving that thorny issue aside, there was an interesting broadside from Qantas's good friend, Mr. T Clark of Emirates, where he said that while the 350 looks very good on paper, the airline's recent experience of Airbus products - performance undershoots and delivery overshoots - caused them to hesitate and that could be the same for QF. Has QF's experience of Airbuses been that good; (in fairness, part of this is that the A332 was never operated in its major strength area - long haul).
With the 340 out of the running, I can still see 773ERs and -200LRs, but the big battle will be between the 787-9/10 and the A350-900; very aggressive pricing may help the 350, but QF still needs a domestic replacement for the 763, for which the 783/788 would be a far better fit.
Just under a fortnight to go ...