New Qantas Asia aircraft to feature luxury seating !

Qantas’s (QF) new Asian-based premium airline is going target the region’s financial high flyers with luxury beds better than those on the airline’s Airbus A380s.

QF CEO Alan Joyce told ATW the new airline will be modeled on the exclusive business-only aircraft operated by British Airways (BA) that flies as a virtual private jet to bankers crossing the North Atlantic. “This product will be better than anything else seen in Asia with lie-flat beds in the business cabin, superior to the award winning first class A380 beds,” Joyce said.

BA operates a daily one-class Airbus A318 from London City to New York with just 32 lie-flat beds. “This type of service does exceptionally well with the financiers of London City who fly to New York,” Joyce said.

The Qantas Group has opted for the single-aisle, 180-seat A320 for the new airline. “The A320s give us the ability to have more frequency and more destinations than a larger aircraft,” Joyce said. The new airline will also have economy seats that are superior to QF’s A380 economy seats, Joyce added.

Up for grabs are the aspirations of the world’s fastest growing travel market. According to the Australia-based Lowy Institute, within 20 years 16% of the world’s middle class will be in East Asia.

“China may already have the world’s fourth-largest population of millionaires and India the twelfth largest,” Joyce said. “These are many, many millions of premium travelers in-waiting and we know that Chinese travelers rate prestige brands and safety as among their top travel priorities.”

The Qantas Group will be a minority shareholder in the airline and will not use its own brand.

The yet-to-be named airline will fly within Asia from its hub—possibly Singapore—and also to and from Australia.