Qantas, the skipping kangaroo airline, is one of the oldest carriers still in business. Furthermore it is also one of the few never to have written off an aircraft due to an accident. The geographic morphology of Australia translates into the need of having quite a varied fleet. In today’s post we’ll be taking a deep dive into the Qantas fleet in 2024.
The Qantas Fleet in 2024
The Qantas fleet features a mix narrow and wide body aircraft. The airline has quite unique needs due to the size of its home country, its location and how the population is mainly concentrated in the largest cities. Therefore the use of these different planes is not that clearly split.
It isn’t uncommon to see wide body jets on domestic services and narrow bodies on some international flight. However where possibile the airline uses its specifically configured planes for domestic flights.
With all of that out of the way, the best way to split and analyse the Qantas fleet is to look at separately the:
- Narrow Bodies
- Wide Bodies
Qantas’ fleet operates both Boeing and Airbus aircraft, albeit with most American produced planes being narrow bodies. Now that we have covered all the basics, let’s look deeper into the fleet composition.
The Narrow Body Qantas Fleet
- 74 Boeing 737-800
This is the least complex part of the Qantas fleet. The airline operates only 1 type of narrow body jet the Boeing 737-800. These planes are used for domestic and short range flights.
All these 74 planes are configured with a 2 class layout offering:
- 12 Business Class Seats – Recaro recliner seats in a 2-2 layout
- 162 Economy Class Seats – Recaro seats in a 3-3 layout
Don’t Miss Any Of My Latest Updates!
The Qantas Fleet of Wide Body Planes
- 8 Airbus A380
- 16 Airbus A330-200
- 10 Airbus A330-300
- 14 Boeing 787-9
These wide body aircraft are used for both domestic and international services, depending on flight duration and passenger demand. I have personally have flown on Qantas wide body planes on the just over 1 hour flight from Sydney to Melbourne.
The airline still has 8 active Airbus A380 at the moment. It just recently re-introduced one of its A380 to help cope with growing air travel demand, particularly on US routes. However in the more distant future these quad-jets will be replaced by more fuel efficient twin engine jets.
These A380s are the only planes in the Qantas fleet to offer passengers the possibility of travelling in First Class. No other aircraft in the fleet is fitted with this product. Also 8 are the active A380s, QF owns 4 more parked and stored units.
At the moment the Boeing 787-9 present in the Qantas fleet are often used for the ultra long range flights the airline operates between Perth and Europe.
How Has Qantas Configured Its Wide Body Aircraft?
The Qantas Cabin Configurations
There is quite a bit to touch on when addressing the Qantas wide body aircraft configurations. The airline has only fitted first class cabins on its Airbus A380s which likely won’t be long lived in to the distant future. All other planes don’t offer such product. Also the A380 features all First Class seats on the main deck ahead of the massive Economy Class cabin.
Qantas is also one of the few airlines to have placed a significant number of Economy seats on the upper deck of the mighty super jumbo. if you’re curious to know which are the other carriers I’ve got you covered with this other post.
| Manufacturer | Aircraft Type | First Class | Business Class | Premium Economy | Economy Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus | A380 | 14 | 70 | 60 | 341 |
| Airbus | A330-200 (Domestic/Int) | – | 27 | – | 224 |
| Airbus | A330-200 (Domestic/Int) | – | 28 | – | 243 |
| Airbus | A330-200 (Intl) | – | 36 | – | 199 |
| Airbus | A330-300 | – | 28 | – | 269 |
| Boeing | 787-9 | – | 42 | 28 | 166 |
As for the other wide body planes, the A330 presents itself in 4 different configurations, of which 3 on the 200 variant. The smaller A330 variant is also seen commonly on domestic services which is why there is a configuration specifically designed for these flights.
Finally the Boeing 787-9 is currently the only plane outside of the A380 to have Premium Economy seats. The Dreamliners are currently the go to aircraft for Qantas’ direct flights to Europe from the Australian west coast. Such flights include the likes of:
- Perth – London Heathrow
- Perth – Rome Fiumicino (Seasonal)
- Perth – Paris Charles De Gaulle (Seasonal)
Out With the Old In With The New At QantasLink
Then There’s The QantasLink Fleet
In the past, QantasLink used to be a wholly Qantas owned division that operated regional flights, mostly inland or to the outback. However this is no longer the case. QantasLink is no longer under direct control of the flag carrier, it has been outsourced to other operators who fly the routes on QF’s behalf with planes painted in the white and red livery.
Currently QantasLink flights are operated by:
- National Jet Systems
- Network Aviation
- Alliance Airlines
- Sunstate Airlines
- Eastern Australia Airlines
The combined fleet of these operators features:
- 3 DHC Dash 8-200
- 16 DHC Dash 8-300
- 31 DHC Dash 8-400
- 20 Embraer E-190
- 18 Fokker 100
- 3 Airbus A319
- 16 Airbus A320-200
- 13 Boeing 717-200
- 2 Airbus A220-300
The latest addition to the QantasLink fleet are the state-of-the-art Airbus A220-300s. These are the only narrow body planes of the Qantas fleet capable of covering the entire distance between the Aussie east and west coast. They are fitted with:
- 10 Business Class Recaro recliner seats in a 2-2 layout.
- 127 Economy Class Recaro seats in a standard 2-3 layout.
The Australian airline will be receiving further 27 of the aircraft type in coming months and years. The first of the A220-300s to arrive down under was painted in a very special celebratory livery in an aboriginal design. I covered it in this other post, you can check out all the details about it.
Also the A220s have their own and special registration number template. They both start with VH-X4 with the first arrival picking up A as its final registration letter and the second arrival getting B.
Add Comment