Qantas is on quite the roll when it comes to renewing its fleet. The airline has today announced an order for additional Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s, which will take the carrier’s fleet renewal strategy all the way into the 2030s.
In this post:
Qantas orders 12 Airbus A350s & 12 Boeing 787s
Qantas has just placed a firm order for 24 additional wide body jets:
- Qantas has placed a firm order for 12 Airbus A350-1000s, with deliveries expected to start in 2028; this complements Qantas’ recent order for 12 Airbus A350-1000s, which will be used to operate the world’s longest flights (the additional A350s may feature more seats, and therefore be shorter range)
- Qantas has placed a firm order for 12 Boeing 787s, including four 787-9s and eight 787-10s, with deliveries expected to start in 2027; this complements Qantas’ existing fleet of 14 Boeing 787-9s
- Qantas has purchase right options to split between Airbus and Boeing to fully renew its long haul fleet and provide growth; furthermore, Qantas notes that both orders include significant flexibility to adjust the timing of deliveries
Just for some context on the order, this is intended to replace both the Airbus A330 and Airbus A380:
- The Boeing 787s will primarily be used to replace Airbus A330s, which will start to be retired as of 2027; Qantas has a fleet of 26 Airbus A330s, including 16 A330-200s and 10 A330-300s, which the airline primarily uses to operate premium transcontinental routes, flights to Asia, flights to Hawaii, etc.
- The Airbus A350s will primarily be used to replace Airbus A380s, which will start to be retired as of 2032; Qantas has a fleet of 10 Airbus A380s, which are used for premium long haul routes, like Sydney to Los Angeles, Singapore to London, etc.
Interestingly Qantas is naming its international fleet renewal program “Project Fysh,” in honor of Sir Hudson Fysh, who co-founded the airline and was Managing Director when it commenced international flying in 1935.
My take on Qantas’ long haul fleet renewal plan
Qantas has long been conservative with its long haul growth. While the airline seemingly always has a laundry list of new destinations it wants to serve, a shortage of aircraft prevents much of that expansion.
With that in mind, it’s nice to see the carrier’s full plan for renewing its fleet, though we’ll have to be patient. The first of these newly ordered planes will arrive in 2027, and those deliveries will take place well into the 2030s.
I’m impressed by the way in which Qantas is simplifying its long haul fleet in the long run, as it will exclusively fly Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s, compared to the previous fleet of Airbus A330s, Airbus A380s, and Boeing 787s.
I imagine the Boeing 787s will feature a similar configuration to what Qantas’ Dreamliners have right now (business class, premium economy, and economy, with a pretty dense configuration), though I think the real question is what the Airbus A350 cabins will be like. Since they’ll replace A380s, I imagine they’ll maintain first class.
The question is whether the cabins will look similar to those on the A350s that have already been ordered, or if the airline chooses a less premium configuration.
Bottom line
Qantas has placed an order for two dozen additional long haul aircraft, including 12 Airbus A350s and 12 Boeing 787s. These planes will start to be delivered in 2027, and will join the carrier’s fleet all the way into the 2030s. This is intended as Qantas’ long haul fleet renewal plan, eventually allowing the airline to retire A330s and A380s.
What do you make of Qantas’ A350 & 787 aircraft order?
The new A350s will have a higher seat count, with Economy seats taking up what is the Wellness Zone on the ULR configured aircraft. And the 787-10s will have the same 3 classes as the 787-9s
You’re not quite right about this order - this order does not replace the A380s. It is to replace only the A330s. Per the Qantas press release:
The Qantas Group has today announced the final piece of its jet fleet renewal program with a firm order for 24 aircraft to progressively replace its existing A330s.
The multi-billion dollar order is split between 12 Airbus A350s and 12 Boeing 787s arriving from FY27 into the next...
You’re not quite right about this order - this order does not replace the A380s. It is to replace only the A330s. Per the Qantas press release:
The Qantas Group has today announced the final piece of its jet fleet renewal program with a firm order for 24 aircraft to progressively replace its existing A330s.
The multi-billion dollar order is split between 12 Airbus A350s and 12 Boeing 787s arriving from FY27 into the next decade. The Group has also negotiated additional purchase right options, split evenly between both manufacturers, to give flexibility for future growth and ultimately replace its 10 A380s with A350s from around FY32 onwards.
QF said the options for the A350 will be used for A380 replacement in time.
The only options to replace the A380 is the A350 or the still unproven and not-in-service B777X, no matter how much smaller they are.
The big twin is as big of an aircraft as the world will see.
Sad: the 787 is uncomfortably narrow; of the small wide-bodies, the A330 neo is much better to fly in.
I thought QR paid attention to details and had learned the lesson (Quite on the 787-9 is claustrophobic, and economy is super-tight)
The B787 is wider than the A330- neo or ceo. The problem is that most airlines put 9 abreast in the B787 which produces a narrower seat than the A330.
Perhaps that is what you mean.
How can they possibly justify the capacity loss with allegidly using the A350 to replace the A380? Bad move imho.
The A350 is a single deck, which means it has at least 200 less seats than the A380. That's 200 less people going on any single flight to Australia, doesn't that mean they are going to offer absurdly high prices with vastly cut supply vs an ever growing travel demand? I can never understand these types of decisions.
I suspect we will see Qantas add SEA and ORD, possibly increase YVR in addition to their DFW, JFK, SFO and LAX flights from the mainland to BNE/MEL/SYD. Some of the a321 XLRs will no doubt open new markets in Asia reducing the demand for widebodies into DPS, CGK, MNL where they can use those widebodies on North America and Northeast Asia. The test case on ULR flights has been proven, there is huge demand...
I suspect we will see Qantas add SEA and ORD, possibly increase YVR in addition to their DFW, JFK, SFO and LAX flights from the mainland to BNE/MEL/SYD. Some of the a321 XLRs will no doubt open new markets in Asia reducing the demand for widebodies into DPS, CGK, MNL where they can use those widebodies on North America and Northeast Asia. The test case on ULR flights has been proven, there is huge demand for PER to LHR so no doubt FCO will increase and CDG will be added once more frames are available, DFW was added ages ago from SYD and then MEL, slowly LAX will become less of a connection point which is a huge relief as arriving into LAX is such a pain from AU when connecting onwards. While the a380 is beast and a great asset, the twin engined planes will allow for new routes allowing more non-stop flights vs connecting at LAX/DFW etc.
200 less seats?
Most A350-1000 are configured between 327-371 seats. Qantas A350-1000 shouldn't be far off.
Qantas A380 is 484/485, Soo that's between 100-150 less seats.
Then you should understand Qantas change of strategy away from supper jumbo.
More flights to more destination, than more seats to 1 or 2 destinations
There is no such thing as an Airbus A350-1000ULR.
The A350-1000 does not have the fuel system enhancements (greater capacity) that the A350-900ULR has compared to the A350-900.
The way that QF is making their Sunrise A350-1000s capable of ultra long range flights is by reducing the capacity by ~ 75 seats below what the aircraft can hold which is a cabin configuration differentiation and not a technical difference between standard A350-1000s.
The...
There is no such thing as an Airbus A350-1000ULR.
The A350-1000 does not have the fuel system enhancements (greater capacity) that the A350-900ULR has compared to the A350-900.
The way that QF is making their Sunrise A350-1000s capable of ultra long range flights is by reducing the capacity by ~ 75 seats below what the aircraft can hold which is a cabin configuration differentiation and not a technical difference between standard A350-1000s.
The A350-900ULR no longer sells - it was just ordered by SQ - because standard production A350-900s are now capable of higher max take off weights than the A350-900 has. The -900ULR still has greater fuel system capacity which adds longer range. SQ also has reduced capacity on their -900ULRs in order to be able to carry more fuel but there are very few routes in the world - essentially just NYC to SIN right now - that require use of a reduced capacity aircraft w/ high fuel capacity but which results in a lower MTOW than current production -900s.
Airbus undoubtedly saw that the -900ULR didn't justify the development process and that airlines weren't willing to block off the forward cargo bin (part of how the -900ULR gets its extra fuel capacity) and so has not offered a higher fuel capacity version of the -1000.
The A350-900 and -1000 are both capable of ultra long haul flights that exceed that of any other aircraft but the range is highly dependent on the number of seats on the aircraft.
And in other exciting news, Qantas handed out status credits or points to those FF who flown QF in the last year.
I was beside myself with excitement!
Glad to see a replacement plan for the a330s, I took a flight to Perth last week and the J cabin is looking very tired, with lots of wear and ter. I cannot help but wonder if Qantas will retrofit the business seats on the current 787-9s with doors. I believe they selected the same seat as Delta (Vantage XL) however Delta have obviously done quite a bit of changes to the ‘standard’ configuration to...
Glad to see a replacement plan for the a330s, I took a flight to Perth last week and the J cabin is looking very tired, with lots of wear and ter. I cannot help but wonder if Qantas will retrofit the business seats on the current 787-9s with doors. I believe they selected the same seat as Delta (Vantage XL) however Delta have obviously done quite a bit of changes to the ‘standard’ configuration to make it a private suite. Does anyone have any knowledge if this would be feasible? It would obviously be a weight penalty but the current Dreamliners have some very lengthy overnight flight times (many 17h+), it seems strange that Project Sunrise’s a350s would have a far superior cabin in terms of privacy, especially on long overnight flights where sleep is a priority for many. I wonder if they contemplated doing this when retrofitting the new cabins on the a380s but for whatever reason decided against it.