Trip Report: Special Flight on Australia’s Newest Jet – Qantas A220

Sam Chui·March 3, 2024

A220 Qantas QantasLink Trip Report Trip Report Special Flights

Qantas operated a special charter flight from Sydney to Uluru (Ayers Rock) on its new Airbus A220. I was onboard to experience the new aircraft and for the first time, visited the Australian outback.

The first Qantaslink A220, featuring the artwork of Maringka Baker. The aircraft is named after the original artwork, Minyma Kutjara Tjukurpa (the creation story of the two sisters).

Video

Enjoy an air-to-air video of Australia’s newest jet in the country setting.

The Trip

a group of women posing for a photo — Artist Maringka Baker's family and friends traveling on this flight to Uluru.

The aircraft spent two weeks in the paintshop where a striking Aboriginal paint scheme was applied, making this aircraft the sixth to join Qantas’s Flying Art Series since Wunala Dreaming.

The Qantaslink A220 has 10 Business Class and 127 Economy Class seats.

Row 4 to 9 on the left side have better legroom (similar to Economy Plus). However, it is standard legroom (30" -31" seat pitch) on the right side.

a man sitting on an airplane with a pillow

a pillow with a map and a map on it — A pillow to take home with celebrating the launch flight of QantasLink A220

an airplane wing and wing of an airplane

It was an incredibly quiet takeoff out of Sydney with the graduate changing scenery and landscape from green to red en route.

Flight time to Uluru was around 2 hours 40 minutes flying at 36,000ft with Mach 0.78 as speed.

people sitting in a plane — Note: No divider or bulkhead between Business and Economy Class

a group of people sitting in an airplane

two men sitting in an airplane — Met with Rob Dewar from Airbus Canada, who is known as the father of A220.

As we are flying inland, the landscape has changed dramatically. The greener backdrop gives away to the desert landscape.

a person looking out of an airplane window

All passengers on this special charter flight receive a full lunch.

food on a tray with a drink and a plate of food — Full Lunch was served

Uluru was very hot with temperature of 44 degrees Celsius. The approach to Uluru was strikingly beautiful with orange earth colors and a lot of bush vegetation.

a desert landscape with small bushes — Note: Orange desert landscape with green vegetation.

Video

There was a helicopter circling our aircraft during landing to take some aerial photos of the A220 in the native Australian outback landscape. All aerial photos are by Qantas (James Morgan)

After landing, a special aboriginal dance and ceremony was held at the brand-new aircraft.

a group of people sitting on grass next to an airplane

a woman in a wheelchair next to an airplane — The first Qantaslink A220, featuring the artwork of Maringka Baker. The aircraft is named after the original artwork, *Minyma Kutjara Tjukurpa* (the creation story of the two sisters).

Uluru

In the evening, we were treated to an amazing sunset and drone show called ‘Wintjiri Wiru’ by Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia. We also visited "Field of Lights" which has spectacular light display.

The next day, I saw the sunrise over Uluru and did a walk around it before flying back to Sydney on Qantas B737-800. It was my first time seeing Australia’s outback despite living in Sydney for 14 years.