As we all know, Concorde was only ever purchased by British Airways and Air France. But many
other airlines had an interest in the project, and 18 carriers placed options for the supersonic
jet. Qantas was amongst these, with options for four jets. But things changed, and Qantas
never took delivery.
It was back in the 1960s when Qantas had a keen interest in supersonic travel, placing
four options for Concorde in March 1964. In the US, Boeing had its own Supersonic Transport
project- the 2707. Qantas had also placed options for six of these aircraft.
Qantas planned to operate Concorde on its flagship Sydney to London’ Kangaroo Route.’
This would have been an impressive 13 and a half hour flight with refueling stops in
Darwin, Singapore, Calcutta, Karachi, and Cairo.
“Our initial concept for a supersonic service on the Kangaroo Route had customers eating
breakfast shortly after leaving Sydney and arriving at lunchtime in London, all on the
same day.” -Qantas
Of course, it was not just London that could
benefit from this. Flights to Auckland could take less than an hour, and only around three
hours to get over to Singapore from Sydney.
In the end, Qantas would never take its Concorde options, and its Boeing 2707 options were
lost when the program was canceled. Qantas, of course, was not the only airline
to cancel options.18 airlines placed options for almost 100 aircraft. All but British Airways
(BOAC at the time) and Air France canceled them.
This was not an instant decision for Qantas and it was not until June 1973 that the airline
canceled its options and dropped its supersonic plans.
This was not through a lack of effort from Concorde’s manufacturers. The aircraft even
flew to Sydney, and there were many attempts to convince Qantas of its potential (including
its ability to operate alongside slower, higher capacity aircraft).
There were various factors involved in Qantas’ decision to drop Concorde.
Delays and development issues hurt confidence in the program. The US SST project was canceled
amidst rising costs, and Concorde ran significantly over budget with added concern over the final
price and operating expense for airlines. Sonic boom impact and environmental concerns
were just as much of a concern as they would be today. There were early issues in the US
with this, resulting in restrictions at JFK and other overland routes. Qantas was also
concerned about noise pollution at Australian airports and the impact of high altitude flights
on the ozone layer. There was also uncertainty about passenger
demand. To make Concorde a success, passengers had to pay a premium for the experience. In
fact, Qantas’ CEO at the time questioned whether passengers would quote “fancy flying
to Europe in something the size of a London Tube train carriage.”
With only four aircraft, Qantas would likely only be able to serve the Sydney to London
route three times a week. By the early 1970s, daily flights were already on offer. The time
saving on Concorde may have been significant, but the lack of frequency would offset this
to some extent. The final straw came following concerns that
a fully loaded aircraft would not be able to fly between Sydney and Singapore without
refueling. According to website Heritage Concorde, engineers insisted that Concorde would offer
a range of 4,000 miles, but Qantas was concerned about this in practice with a 3,939-mile route.
Ultimately, new possibilities were offered by high capacity aircraft like the 747. Instead
of focusing on premium travel at high speed and high cost, Qantas would concentrate instead
on lowering prices through scale. The 747 changed how airlines operated and
it would end up serving Qantas well, operating for nearly 50 years.
What do you think about Qantas’ supersonic ambitions? Would it have made sense for it
to operate Concorde? Let us know your thoughts in
the comments.