Cathay Pacific 8.5 years, Singapore Airlines 6.9 years, Air New Zealand 6.9 years, Emirates 6.6 years and Etihad 5.9 years.
Cherry picked airlines that have fleet sizes less than a quarter or at least half of the Qantas fleet size, accelerating the favourable age curve with less deliveries required. Not a good comparison, even if they are in the region.
Emirates and Etihad can’t be compared simply because they have very different agendas; operate on very different financial structures etc.
Maintaining a reasonable age of fleet ensures comfort and on-time performance are at an acceptable standard.
Retrofits and repaints can maintain high quality standards for inflight experience.
I don’t agree the age of an aircraft results in poorer OTP as quoted by Steve. Rex seems to manage an ageing fleet (average of 26 years) with the some of the best OTP performance in the country (usually second after QantasLink - and how old are those ex AA 717’s and DHC-300’s?). How is that possible with such an ‘old’ fleet...
Yes, the airline is now profitable again, as it always was under previous CEOs
How do you define ‘profit’? Statutory? Underlying? Net?. There were years of profitability under Joyce leading up to the losses (accounting only balance sheet adjustments). The past is a poor comparison and does not predict the future.
I do hold the shared opinion that
Qantas needs an upgraded fleet however.