What does the-1000 means to Qatar Airways and its competitiors?
Qatar Airways will now be the launch customer of Airbus A350-1000 as they finally received their first new widebody jet yesterday. In this article, we will compare the differences in modes of operations between Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific Airways, which is due to become the second -1000 operator.
photo by Clement
After A7-ANA (first -1000 delivered to Qatar Airways yesterday), A7-ANB and A7-ANC will be the next 1000 series set to be delivered to the Doha based airline. According to A350 XWB Production, the planes are doing rework and cabin refit. Due to the complexity of Qatar's new Qsuites, the delivery of A350-1000s have been delayed. As for Cathay Pacific, B-LXA will be their first A350-1000. It is estimated to be delivered in April and will start commercial operations by August.
Qatar Airways will be using the 327 seats -1000 on their Doha and London from February 24 as the QR15/QR16 service. The QR15/16 is currently operated mainly by A359 with 77W, 788 and A333 operating on irregular basis. With the -1000s possibly replacing its smaller variant in the future, we will see a 2% increase in capacity for this route.
The Doha to London route is reported as Qatar Airways' most profitable route, where all of their flagship products including the Qsuites can be seen on that route. Qatar Airways is taking a monopoly status on that route, operating 6 out of the 7 daily flights on that rotation. In contrast, British Airways only deploy a single Boeing 777-200 on a daily flight.
As a launch customer for smaller variant A350-900 also, Qatar Airways had been using their first -900 (A7-ALA) to London for noise testing before their inaugural flight.
London is a key market for Qatar Airways and the A350-1000 will enable it to enhance its offer – especially in the premium cabin – in the competitive sixth freedom market via the Gulf hubs. The route is one of its strongest for business class demand and sector time allows the aircraft to comfortably operate a daily schedule.
The medium-haul route will enable Qatar Airways to monitor the performance of the aircraft before it is deployed on longer sector routes to the US East Coast as additional units are delivered.
As for Cathay Pacific Airways, they plan to utilize their 1000 series on medium and ultra long haul routes. Cathay hopes to use their large capacity A350-1000 to replace 5 of their older Boeing 777-300ER. The 1000s will comply with Boeing 777-300ER fleet and be used on long-haul routes with intense competiiton. The airline has already announced serval routes which will be operated by their -1000s by the end of 2018, which includes the four-times-weekly service to Washington DC. This 7,085 nautical miles (8,153 miles, 13,122 kilometers) flight will become the longest on the Cathay Pacific network in terms of distance.
For medium-haul routes, it is expected that the A350-1000s will replace the 3 class A333s which are due to be retired. The airline has already indicated that they will fly their 1000 series to Sydney, replacing its sole remaining A333 service. All other remaining A333 routes to Australian ports will eventually be replaced by A359s or 77Ws.
Unlike the -900s, Cathay Pacific will not use their 1000 series on short haul, high demand routes such as the Hong Kong to Taipei rotation. Despite this, they will still use the A350-1000s on flights to Taipei, Manila, and Bangkok for crew testing and familiarization starting from the 1st August.
From the graph above, we can clearly see that Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific Airways have a totally different approach to their A350-1000s.
Like the smaller variant -900, Qatar Airways is only providing a 2 class layout on their A350s. As for Cathay, they will feature a premium economy cabin which is widely seen on their long-haul fleet including the A359, 77W, future 777X and some A333.
Both airlines have the same business class capacity. However Qatar Airways will be featuring their flagship 'Qsuites' on their -1000s, while Cathay Pacific's -1000s will only be the Zodiac Cirrus III design seats which are seen on their 777s and A330s.
On the other hand, Qatar's new business class Qsuites will introduce complete closing doors and configurations that can be combined with a variety of layouts including double beds and even four-person meeting suites. Each of the 46 Qsuite seats also reclines to a fully lie-flat 80inch bed and has its own 22inch HD In-Flight Entertainment System.
Below shows a comparison between Cathay Pacific (top) and Qatar's (bottom) business class seats on respective A350s. (note that only Qatar's -1000s feature Qsuites most of their -900s are fitted with lie-flat beds like Cathay)
We will not compare their premium economy product as Qatar Airways will not be featuring this cabin design on their -1000s. While they are both 5 Star Skytrax Airlines, Qatar Airways is apparently winning over its competitor in terms of legroom on their -1000's economy class seatings.
The Doha based airline will feature 281 economy seats in a 3 – 3 – 3 configuration, which are relatively roomy compared to the industry overall, at 18 inches wide and with 32 inches of pitch. In comparison, the Hong Kong-based airline will squeeze in 10 percent more seats then Qatar Airways.
With intense competition from LCCs, it is not the first time to see Cathay Pacific introducing dense economy configurations on their widebody fleet. The airline is now reconfiguring 48 of their long-haul 77Ws and 17 of its short-haul 777s with 10-across seating in economy, reducing seat width for each of its passengers. As a point of comparison, there are quite a few airlines that offer 10-abreast in their economy cabins. Carriers that have (or will have) 10-abreast seatings include United Airways, British Airways, EVA Air, Emirates and Air France.
Compared to the -900s, the 1000 series include a range of technological advances, including its composite construction that allows for higher cabin pressure and humidity, more cabin temperature zones, over 16 million LED ambient light settings that can help to reduce jet lag, and hospital-grade HEPA filters that improve air circulation, all of which enhance passenger comfort.
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