According to its chief executive, Qantas will continue to fly its fleet of ten Airbus A380 aircraft at least through the upcoming decade and into the 2030s.
Alan Joyce, the current CEO of Qantas, reportedly stated that the company will keep the 10 aircraft for at least the ten years that follow. By 2024, all of the type’s aircraft will be in service, Joyce added, which is a little sooner than anticipated.
According to information from ch-aviation.com, Qantas now operates seven of a kind, with two of them being kept at Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) and one of them being maintained. The A380 currently undergoing maintenance will join Qantas’ network by year’s end, the Australian airline having previously stated, with a considerable expansion of its global network beginning in October 2023.
Additionally, Qantas previously stated that the demand for maintenance on the Airbus A380s was delaying its plans to return the aircraft, with restricted slots at Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) organizations “impacting return-to-service of remaining A380s through to early 2025”.
In a separate interview with FlightGlobal, the company’s chief financial officer (CFO), Vanessa Hudson, stated that Qantas will make a decision on which aircraft will replace the A330s by the end of 2023. The Australian carrier will also start to consider which aircraft will replace its aged Airbus A330s.
In November 2023, Hudson will take over Joyce’s position as CEO of the Qantas Group.
Because the two-class seating on Qantas’ A330-200 and A330-300 aircraft can accommodate up to 271 and 297 passengers, respectively, both the Airbus A330neo and Boeing 787-8 are viable candidates to replace the deteriorating aircraft.
The carrier also runs 13 Boeing 787-9s, so there wouldn’t be a problem with the fleet not being comparable. Both situations would require no new staff to be trained from scratch, which would drastically cut expenditures.
A three-class layout with 42 Business, 28 Premium Economy, and 166 Economy seats is how Qantas has set up its ultra-long-haul 787-9 aircraft. These aircraft fly to locations like London Heathrow Airport (LHR), Rome-Fiumicino International Airport (FCO), Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), and others.
In a typical three-class configuration, the A330-800neo can accommodate between 220 and 260 passengers, while the A330-900neo can accommodate between 260 and 300 passengers, according to Airbus product material.
According to the maker of the 787 aircraft family, the Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 787-10 can accommodate up to 248 and 336 passengers, respectively, in a two-class arrangement.
