Rated De, I’m curious to know what you actually expect or want Qantas to do from a fleet point of view beyond your oft repeated tag-line.
Qantas have now announced the retirement of their 747 fleet. The fleet will wind down as the cheaply hedged fuel runs out in ~18 months.
They are being replaced by a fuel efficient twin, the 787-9. Less capacity but higher yield and more profit.
The A330 fleet is not the latest generation but is still a competitive aircraft in all the markets it is flown to and the average age is 11 years old. The 787 is its natural replacement and Qantas have options and production slots for many more of them.
The A380 has an average age of 8 years old. As Malaysian Airlines and the Dr Peters Group (owners of Singapore’s initial A380’s) have found, there is virtually NO second hand market for used A380’s. Qantas are not about to just junk a multi billion dollar asset that has not been full depreciated. Not to mention, passengers love them and there are niche market routes for which the A380 is well suited in limited numbers, just ask Lufthansa, Air France, BA, Asiana, Singapore Airlines, Etihad, Qatar, Korean, ANA, Thai, etc. In time it will likely be replaced with whatever type is used for the Project Sunrise concept (A350 or 777X) but not for another 10 years.
The 737 has an average age of 10 years and Qantas have said that they are economic to keep in the fleet until the individual airframe is appx. 20-24 years old due to their impressive reliability. Fuel burn savings achieved by a MAX are not as relevant in the domestic sphere and importantly, at this stage, there is no domestic competitor operating a more fuel efficient fleet.
Qantas has also announced it is planning to order a new ultra long range twin aircraft in 2019 to perform its Project Sunrise mission and there are still dozens more 787-9’s options that can be converted to firm orders as and when progress payments fall due.
So what exactly do you expect to happen??
Like all Qantas pilots I wish we had ordered a whole stack of 777’s a decade ago, the airline and our careers would be in a lot better shape now if we had. I’d also like it if Qantas had bottomless pockets and could just order 100 next-gen widebody aircraft and rely on the state to pay the bill because it was good for nation building but that is not our reality.
The fleet plan is sometimes painfully slow, shrouded in secrecy and certainly not as ambitious as I would like, but it is there. In 2020 the fleet will compromise of A380’s, A330’s, 787’s and 738’s with options for more 787’s and orders for a 777X or A350. Where specifically do you see that a radical and realistic change is required?