Qantas to retire Airbus A380s from 2032 onwards, with replacements selected

Australia’s Qantas has just posted an excellent profit after tax of A$1.74 billion (US$1.09 billion/€1.01 billion/£866 million) for their financial year ended 30 June 2023. Among all the announcements is the plan to retire Airbus A330s and A380s.

A new fleet of international aircraft have been ordered to see the airline into the 2030s. These will open up new destinations for the airline and replace the aging existing fleet.

A Plan To Retire Airbus A330s and A380s

24 new aircraft have been ordered, comprising of 12 Airbus A350-1000s, four Boeing 787-9s and eight Boeing 787-10s. The Boeings are due from FY27, which is the period from July 2026 to June 2027, with the Airbus planes due to start arriving in FY28, which is the period July 2027 to June 2028.

All of these are due to replace the Airbus A330 fleet, which comprises of 16 Airbus A330-200s and 10 Airbus A330-300s. As the press release states, the new aircraft have a longer range, allowing them to operate on any existing Qantas route as well as opening new ones.

Purchase rights have also been negotiated as part of the new order. This means when it comes time to retire Airbus A380s, they will be able to draw from these.

Currently, the Airbus A380s look to be safe until FY32 (July 2031 to June 2032), when they are expected to start leaving the fleet. This makes sense, as all ten of the Qantas A380s have had their cabins upgraded to the latest on board product to match the newer long-haul aircraft. Getting about 10 years out of that makes sense.

Overall Thoughts

Those wanting to fly on the Airbus A380 are going to have many more years to do that. It’s great to see Qantas sticking with the aircraft, which continue to be profitable for them.

Airbus A350-1000s have already been ordered for the ultra long haul Project Sunrise flights. They will link the east coast of Australia with London and New York non-stop and it therefore makes sense to order more for fleet commonality. It’s the same deal with the 787s, which are already in service with Qantas.

What do you think of the new Qantas plans for the future? Were you hoping for this result or for something else? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image and Qantas A330 image by Vismay Bhadra via Wikimedia Commons.