So, QANTAS will buy 70ish A320s and 20 A318s. Why? The Airbus is a similar cost to run as the 737 and the 318 costs around 4-5 times more to acquire than a 717 and the operating costs are the same if not more. Then there is around 800+ 737 and 200+ 717 pilots to retrain and/or hire, plus engineers. Where is the advantage?
They have just bought half the 717 fleet from the lessors, they will be converted to dual class and are reportedly looking at more.