Designer Rebecca Vallance with Qantas staff modelling pyjamas she designed for the airline. Photo / Grant Bradley
As airlines get more planes in the air, better times are coming for passengers – especially those in the front of the aircraft.
Qantas, which is about to launch non-stop services from Auckland to New York, released new goodies and menus at an extravaganza in their Sydney headquarters on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Air New Zealand has new amenity kits for its Business Premier passengers (and a total cabin revamp from late next year) and this week Singapore Airlines announced unlimited Wi-Fi for all customers.
Last month Hawaiian Airlines released details of its new interiors for Dreamliners coming into its fleet from later this year.
The resumption of new product launches also comes as signs emerge of better news for passengers on airfares.
While ticket prices are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels, the rate of increases will slow and more promotional deals are appearing. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says more capacity will place downward pressure on fares and Flight Centre forecasts moderating prices in the second half of the year.
Many airlines are enjoying record levels of profitability as borders have reopened and travel surges, but for passengers this has resulted in higher fares at a time when labour and equipment shortages mean the travel experience is worse than it was before the pandemic.
Qantas’ head of customer product, Phil Capps, was at the Sydney launch and agrees the good times are coming back for passengers. “Yes, absolutely,” he says.
It was fundamental when borders opened to provide flight options for people who hadn’t been able to travel since Covid-19 hit in early 2020. That resumption of travel had been bumpy - a surge in demand coming when airlines were having trouble spooling up.
“And as supply chains have stabilised and different airports in the world have got operations more stable, we could not just get the planes back in here, but really start to bring back all the things that customers really wanted.”
Qantas unveiled new Rebecca Vallance-designed pyjamas and amenity kits as well as a New York-inspired menu from creative director of food beverage and service Neil Perry for its flights, which originate in Sydney and then operate non-stop from Auckland to the Big Apple from June 14. They will run three times a week initially before an extra flight is added at the end of October.
Capps said the special focus on the New York flight – where the airline will compete with Air New Zealand – followed a massive overhaul of what it offers passengers. That included the single biggest investment in Qantas inflight and lounge dining in a decade. The airline said it came as it returned to profit and accelerates its customer investment programmes.
From earlier this year, Qantas has been serving larger meals and new dishes on regional, domestic and international flights.
Capps oversees the Qantas travel experience from the time passengers get to the departure airport, to when they leave their arrival airport.
“The food investment that we introduced only a few months ago was in every cabin on every aircraft.
“In economy, we introduced changes to frequency of menu changes, increased portion sizes, reinvested in the drinks and throughout the year, Easter, Christmas the school holidays, putting special biscuits and chocolates and anything else we can on board,” he said.
It was important to be “as generous as we can” to put things on board that customers know and expect and that they associate with Qantas.
It is one of the few airlines to offer pyjamas to Business Class passengers, with those travelling to New York getting the limited run of Rebecca Vallance PJs for about the first six weeks of the service.
Capps won’t reveal the unit cost of the pyjamas, but says that overall it is a “big investment” for the airline. They are important for two reasons.
“For us, it is so important that the pyjamas and the amenities are a really important tangible expression of what it is to be a premium carrier. They’re a gift and it’s a nice way to welcome customers as well.”
More importantly, they provided comfort. “Because we’re so far away from most places in the world and a big percentage of many of our flights is overnight, comfort is disproportionately important, not just when customers are sleeping, but when they’re reclining, watching a movie or when they’re finishing a piece of work.”
Head of loyalty at Qantas, Olivia Worth, said pyjamas were one of the top things frequent flyers wanted when they board their plane.
Air New Zealand broke out PJs on its inaugural flight from Auckland to New York in September, but hasn’t re-introduced them on other flights.
“There are no immediate plans to introduce these as an amenity for customers, but we continue to consider them as a part of our overall enhanced product and service offerings,” said a spokeswoman.
Capps said Qantas keeps an eye on what competitors are doing but concentrates on what it can control itself - what it offers passengers.
“Of course, we have a look at what competitors are doing but I think we’ve been flying for well over 100 years now and we have some great learning, some great experience from that.”
For its New York flights, Qantas had learned from the slightly longer 14,498km Perth-London flight launched five years ago.
“Auckland-New York is the same sort of duration as [Perth-]London so this is where some of the inputs come from,” said Capps.
“Anything the customer touches or feels will have been thought of by us. This is down to the lighting throughout the flight, the temperature, what we have for meals. All of this has been done in collaboration with industrial design.”
Perry, a renowned Australian restaurateur, has designed and overseen the introduction of food and beverage on Qantas since 1997 and has introduced some new items to the menu for New York, mainly in Business Class, though they will be reflected throughout Premium Economy and Economy.
The food includes a Reuben sandwich, a classic hot dog, New York-style spaghetti and meatballs, and General Tso chicken.
As tastebuds are dulled at high altitude, Perry told the Herald that airline food had to be extra-tasty, with chili, paprika and other spices. The timing of food service was designed around rest cycles on the plane and helping to get passengers prepared for new time zones.
Qantas is on track for a pre-tax profit of up to A$2.475 billion ($2.62b) for the year as demand for travel remains strong. At an investor day this week, the airline said its monthly internal research had found the intention to travel remains “significantly” above pre-Covid levels.
While Qantas doesn’t yet have Wi-Fi on its Dreamliners, Singapore Airlines this week announced its passengers will enjoy “the most comprehensive free unlimited access in the airline industry” from July 1.
The service will be extended to all travellers in all cabin classes, including Premium Economy and Economy Class.
This enhanced Wi-Fi offering will be available on almost all planes and the vast majority of its global route network.
Customers must be KrisFlyer members, but it is free to join.
“In today’s increasingly hyper-connected world, high-speed in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity is one of the most important requirements for our customers,” said Yeoh Phee Teik, senior vice president customer experience.
One route had three times the average rate of cancellations.