Qantas has announced that it has ordered six more 787-9 Dreamliners. At the same time, it flagged the retirement of the remainder of its 747 fleet.
Six More 787-9s
In ordering six more 787-9 aircraft, Qantas will bring the total 787-9 fleet size to 14. The newly announced order is set to be delivered from late 2019, with all six to be delivered by mid-late 2020.
Qantas currently has 4 787-9 aircraft in its fleet, with 4 more set for delivery later this year.
All 14 of the aircraft will have the same interior configuration. The configuration will remain continue to total 236 seats. This comprises
- 42 seats in business in a 1-2-1 layout,
- 28 seats in premium economy in a 2-3-2 layout and
- 166 seats in economy in a 3-3-3 layout.
At present, Qantas has four 787-9s which are used to operate the Los Angeles-Melbourne-Perth-London Heathrow services. The next four are set to be based in Brisbane, to operate services between Brisbane and the USA.
As for the latest batch of six, Qantas is suggesting destinations in the Americas, Asia, South Africa and Europe.
747 Retirement
At the same time, Qantas has announced that it will retire the remainder of its 747 fleet. The remaining ten aircraft are now scheduled to exit the fleet by the end of 2020.
Qantas has operated various versions of the 747 for 40 years. At one point, when it only operated international flights, its fleet consisted completely of 747 aircraft.
