As Qantas’ Project Sunrise enters the final stages of planning, more details are emerging about what the travel experience will look like, both in the air and on the ground.
Point Hacks attended a media roundtable with Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson and Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace. Here, we were given free rein to ask any questions about the project – and go beyond just the press releases.
Qantas to shelve London First Lounge
As first reported by our sister site, Australian Frequent Flyer, Qantas will no longer proceed with plans to build a London First Lounge. In a question we posed directly to Cam Wallace, we asked whether the London First Lounge would be ready in time for Project Sunrise.
“We looked for quite some time for alternative space, but because of the congestion and the changes going on at Heathrow, that wasn’t a possibility,” Wallace admitted.
Instead, the existing Qantas London Lounge will go under the knife to create a premium dining area, similar to the one already in Auckland, that will seat up to 60 passengers.
“We’re looking at options at closing it, because we can look at closing segments of it, and we do have [options] at Heathrow Airport, because we have the Cathay Lounge and the BA Lounge. We’ll probably stage close it rather than fully close it,” he said.
Wallace said that renovations will start in the coming weeks. The entire project is slated for completion by the end of 2026. The premium dining area will be added on the ground floor. As part of the works, Qantas will remodel the ground-floor bar and staircase to make better use of space.
“Let’s optimise this lounge, get the facilities up-to-date, and that’ll be a great experience for our customers.”
Economy Plus added, but at a price
When the Airbus A350-1000ULR cabins were first revealed, Economy was touted as having a more spacious, 33” seat pitch throughout.
That’s no longer the case, with Qantas adding 42 Economy Plus seats with 34” of pitch (that’s an extra inch, or 2.5cm for the knees). Wallace confirms that Platinum Frequent Flyers and higher will be able to choose them for free. They’ll also be available for other passengers to purchase.
“We are going to have an Economy Plus cabin, which we didn’t have when we first announced Project Sunrise. But we rolled it out quite successfully across our domestic and trans-Tasman network, so that will be a new feature that will give rewards for our most premium customers,” he said.
But as Qantas is not reducing the seat count, all that space comes at a price. Around 30% of the cabin (that’s also 42 seats) will instead shrink to a 32” seat pitch. That’s quite standard for international Economy, but probably not quite what passengers will be looking for on the 21-hour voyages.
When asked whether Qantas had considered an alternative configuration that scrapped Economy completely – as Singapore Airlines has done with its Airbus A350-900ULRs – Hudson affirms that they will not go down that path.
“Having four cabins, we think, gives this aircraft way more versatility. Because remember, Singapore Airlines is just flying from Singapore to New York. We’ve got this network that this A350 is going to fly over, and so, we need to make sure the configuration is not so niche that it can only do certain routes,” she explained.
Classic Reward seats to be available in all cabins
Hudson further reiterated that there will ‘absolutely’ be Classic Reward seats available in all cabins, including Business and First Class, rather than just Classic Plus.
“One important part of Project Sunrise is the aspiration… that we want our members to have and be rewarded for. We will think of promotions at different times. We want this to be something that is not just a commercial driver for the organisation, but also deepening our members’ loyalty. And aspiration is an incredibly important part of that,” Hudson said.
That means they’ll likely follow the existing rules, where elite Qantas Frequent Flyer members can see Business and First Class seats from 353 days before departure. Bronze members may see any remaining seats from 297 days onwards. Platinum members and higher could also be able to request seats.
However, with only 6 First Class seats and likely huge demand for Business Class, we think it’ll likely be harder than it is now for us to get coveted reward seats on Project Sunrise flights.
Using Sydney-London as an example, you’ll need to spend this many Qantas Points for each cabin class:
- Economy: 63,500 points + fees and taxes
- Premium Economy: 124,700 points + fees and taxes
- Business: 166,300 points + fees and taxes
- First: 249,400 points + fees and taxes
Qantas American Express Ultimate
Offer ends: 28 Jul 2026
- Bonus points
- 50,000 bonus Qantas Points¹
- Annual fee
- $450 p.a.
- Earn
- 1.25 Qantas Points earned per $1 on eligible everyday purchases. 2.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia. 0.5 Qantas Point per $1 at government bodies in Australia. After a total of 100,000 Qantas Points is earned in a calendar year, the everyday earn rate will change from 1.25 to 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent.
Qantas American Express Ultimate
Offer ends: 28 Jul 2026
- Bonus Points
- 50,000 bonus Qantas Points¹
- Annual Fee
- $450 p.a.
- Earn
- 1.25 Qantas Points earned per $1 on eligible everyday purchases. 2.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia. 0.5 Qantas Point per $1 at government bodies in Australia. After a total of 100,000 Qantas Points is earned in a calendar year, the everyday earn rate will change from 1.25 to 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent.
Earn 50,000 bonus Qantas Points¹ with the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card when you apply online by 28 July 2026, are approved, and spend $5,000 in the first 3 months.
Can you get on the A350-1000ULR before Sunrise?
Tickets for Project Sunrise flights will go on sale in February 2027. But you might be able to snag a seat on one of the familiarisation flights earlier in 2027. Wallace says it could be marketed as special flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, rather than a ‘surprise and delight’ swap.
“If you look at the Airbus A321XLR, actually we didn’t market those [initial] flights. We had a Boeing 737 marketed, and at a late stage, we did a tail swap and put in the XLR. That’s one of the options that we have [with the Airbus A350-1000ULR]. But the gauge of those aircraft is quite different on those city pairs.”
“We’ll probably end up actually putting these [the Airbus A350-1000ULRs] into the system and selling them to the gauge of the aircraft, because one, we want to fill the aircraft, and two, we think it’ll be an attractive proposition. We haven’t finalised that, but that’s our working assumption,” he revealed.
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Disclaimer: The author attended the media briefing at Qantas and Airbus’ invitation, but travelled at Point Hacks’ expense.
