Qantas announces A380 refurbishments

[Mattg]

Qantas has confirmed that it will refurbish its fleet of 12 A380s, with work to begin in 2019.

First class will stay, and will still have 14 seats in 1-1-1 config at the front of the lower deck.

Business class, as expected, will get the A330-style suites. Configuration will be 1-2-1 and the total seat count will slightly increase.

Premium Economy will get an extra 25 seats, and will be in the same style as the 787s with a 2-3-2 config.

Economy seat count drops from 371 to 341. It looks like the mini-Economy cabin on the upper deck is going.

Qantas today announced a major cabin upgrade for its fleet of 12 Airbus A380s to improve passenger comfort on long haul flights.The A380 project was announced with several other product investments at Qantas’ full year results today (see other release).
A multi-million dollar upgrade will see a change in the seat mix on the super jumbos to meet increased customer demand for premium cabins on flights to the US, Europe and Asia.
Structural changes are focused on the upper deck where 30 Economy seats will be removed and some partitions and a crew workstation rearranged to use space more effectively. This allows for an additional six Business Class and 25 Premium Economy seats, increasing the overall seat count on the aircraft by one and increasing premium seating by 27 per cent.

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/m...announces-major-cabin-upgrade-for-a380-fleet/

 

[snabbu]

Great news. Will begin to consider the QF388 in J once the refurbs are complete.

 

[Mattg]

New cabin layout:

 

[Ansett]

But will there be a bar for First and Business or just more seating and a small self serve bar as per now.

It seems to me that QF may have missed an opportunity to offer something more innovative.

So no upper deck economy.

Why are they increasing business class when they previously removed seats as they couldn't fill them? Are they filling business and premium all the time now?

 

[Mattg]

Why are they increasing business class when they previously removed seats as they couldn't fill them? Are they filling business and premium all the time now?

Well, according to Mr Joyce:

"We’re seeing increased demand for Premium Economy and Business Class on the long haul routes that the A380 operates, including from people using their Qantas points to upgrade. When more travellers experience these new seats, we expect that demand will keep rising."

I think he might have a point. We all know how difficult it can be to get a points upgrade on QF flights to Europe & the USA.

 

[pauly7]

Please please no bar, (for me) they are such a waste of space on other airlines and on the odd occasion they are used then you get excess noise and foot traffic around them.
Everything else : great news.

 

[snabbu]

Why are they increasing business class when they previously removed seats as they couldn't fill them? Are they filling business and premium all the time now?

More J with actual lie flat beds, no need to question why imho. Good news is good news.

 

[Bilton]

It seems to me that QF may have missed an opportunity to offer something more innovative.

In flights bars are just a nuisance which, at best, pander to a small fraction of premium fare passengers on any flight, while greatly annoying the majority.

There nothing at all innovative about them.

More J and PE seats is great news!

 

[Comoman]

Qantas has confirmed that it will refurbish its fleet of 12 A380s, with work to begin in the second half of next year.

/

Actually starting only in 2019

"Work on the first A380 is expected to begin in the second quarter of calendar year 2019. All 12 aircraft will be upgraded by the end of 2020."

 

[Mattg]

Actually starting only in 2019

"Work on the first A380 is expected to begin in the second quarter of calendar year 2019. All 12 aircraft will be upgraded by the end of 2020."

Oh, I read that as second quarter of financial year 2019 for some reason. Well that's disappointing!

I'll update my original post.

 

[mviy]

Now all we need is for QF to do a backflip and decide not to cancel the A380 services to LHR after all seeing Joyce reckons there's so much demand for premium seats and expects that to grow. Not holding my breath...

With the axing of flights to London I may not fly premium cabins in the QF A380 much if at all after the refurb anyway, which is a shame as I love flying on that plane.


The small changes to F suggest QF is a bit unsure of the future of F. It is neither willing to invest a lot in improving it, nor scrap it completely.

 

[kpc]

Actually starting only in 2019

"Work on the first A380 is expected to begin in the second quarter of calendar year 2019. All 12 aircraft will be upgraded by the end of 2020."

By then QF will be so far behind the competition, it won't be funny!!

 

[kpro]

If I'm reading this right, Qantas are able to fit 70 business suites into the two zones where 64 Skybed MK2 currently fit. That's some very good space utilisation on the Vantage XL product, even with the direct aisle access, due to the staggering.

I take it that economy gets new seat cushions like the A330-200 fleet, and retains the same eX2 screens with upgraded interface.

 

[juddles]

Please please no bar, (for me) they are such a waste of space on other airlines and on the odd occasion they are used then you get excess noise and foot traffic around them.
Everything else : great news.

Each to their own Pauly

I can see your perception, but there are pax who value them. As the sufferer of almost weekly long haul flights, the chance to walk somewhere other than my seat and have a quiet drink is a true attraction. For me it is not about getting loud and annoying, but just that chance to not have to endure perpetual hours in my seat in a flying metal tube. And I have had some great conversations, met fantastic people, in said airborne bars.

 

[moa999]

Would be good to see more shots of the bar area, particularly the opposite side where the self-serve bar is.

The render is a bit misleading given there is presently a floor to ceiling wall around the stairs (presumably the black square in the pic) with a TV presently mounted on it, but the render does appear to allow access to a magazine rack behind the stairs that isn't present at the moment.

If you had say a half-height barrier around the stairs that would greatly improve the look of the space, and possibly even grab space from the other side which I believe is the CSMs 'office'

 

[RichardMEL]

So F, more or less, will be a refresh, nothing new really. yawn

the "new" J is a major improvement for sure and putting W on the upper deck makes sense too

but as usual with QF this stuff is 2-3 years away. gawd... they are rotating a 380 out of the fleet starting in March, you'd have thought they'd start this work then. I know they mention 2nd q of "2019 year" which i take as end 2018/start 2019, but still it's a long way off.

QF has always been slow in refurbing a/c (at least with the 380 fleet it makes some sense given they can only do one at a time)

 

[mviy]

This means that QF intends to use the A380 freed up by the end of the LHR flights for other routes pretty much immediately and then once they've got a number of 787 aircraft do the A380 refurb. Also sounds like they want to give the 787 a bit of time exclusively having the new PE and improved J suites.

 

[RichardMEL]

Well yes, it will boost Asia service, and I suppose could also pinch hit if there's a 787 issue, though that's unlikely as it's a pretty mature airframe now.

Just a bit disappointing to have to wait for so long, and of course the game of "new or old config 380?" will begin for fun times over a couple of years (just like with the 332's)

 

[mviy]

A swap to the old config and getting a downgrade from J as a result would not be fun.

 

[RichardMEL]

A swap to the old config and getting a downgrade from J as a result would not be fun.

Or an upgrade to F .....