Qantas A330-200 cabin refurbishments

[jrfsp]

Still 16" in J Vs 13.3" in Y.
But yes 1080P (or 1K) Vs 4K.

As above the renders do seem to show the 332 seats becoming mostly cloth, currently they are leather.

The intl A330-200s have cloth.

 

[muppet]

Qantas have today released images of the upcoming cabin refurbishments for the A330 fleet.

In total, 10 A330-200s will be refurbished and feature new economy seats, mood lighting and carpets. The existing business class seats will remain.

Work will start in mid-2025 at their Brisbane maintenance facility with the refurbishment program to be completed by the end of 2026.

View attachment 413216

Sources: First look: inside Qantas’ upgraded A330s

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-reveals-next-generation-cabin-upgrades-for-a330-aircraft/

lol at the economy meal on a plate and a tray ….. not a in a box

 

[elanshin]

Still 16" in J Vs 13.3" in Y.
But yes 1080P (or 1K) Vs 4K.

As above the renders do seem to show the 332 seats becoming mostly cloth, currently they are leather.

Also the ability to fast charge, BT audio and use streaming services possibly even play our device on the bigger screen.

 

[kpro]

Not too sure what the fuss is about having bluetooth audio to the IFE on a plane. I'm happy to plug my headphones in. After all, the seat isn't a portable device that moves with me. I can understand some people have AirPods or an equivalent that may not have a wire though.

How much 4K content will QF be loading? I know Cathay has 'certain' movies in 4K, but not all. If it's mostly 1080p or 720p videos, the screen resolution doesn't mean much. Though OLED is a nice touch.

 

[kpro]

10 is interesting and I think first time we've seen that number.
Qantas currently have 16 332s.

The 4 oldest are presumably going EBA- EBD. All 2014 deliveries, so hitting 20+

The Qantas seat map PDF lists 10 A332's that currently don't have seatback IFE in Y. Could it be limited to those? But then those are the ones with the single toilet in J *shudder*.

VH-EBA
VH-EBB
VH-EBC
VH-EBD
VH-EBE
VH-EBF
VH-EBG
VH-EBJ
VH-EBK
VH-EBL

 

[moa999]

The Qantas seat map PDF lists 10 A332's

That seat map PDF is old.
EBE and EBF don't have any seats anymore... And carry Qantas Freight branding these days

 

[moa999]

And some of these 332s started life with the then state of the art Rockwell Collins IFE.
Oh how I don't miss that.

I'm somewhat surprised that QF didn't announce they would also be adding a PE cabin to these aircraft.

 

[RooFlyer]

Another announcement....which will start in a year....

Qantas AGM today

 

[elanshin]

Not too sure what the fuss is about having bluetooth audio to the IFE on a plane. I'm happy to plug my headphones in. After all, the seat isn't a portable device that moves with me. I can understand some people have AirPods or an equivalent that may not have a wire though.

How much 4K content will QF be loading? I know Cathay has 'certain' movies in 4K, but not all. If it's mostly 1080p or 720p videos, the screen resolution doesn't mean much. Though OLED is a nice touch.

Future proofing. Also QF doesn't need to load 4k themselves either. These IFE are capable of streaming Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ etc just you need your own account.

As for BT audio earbuds are getting significantly better and i often don't take my ANC headphones over my ANC earbuds or I take both. Even for the headphones, its nice not having to deal with wires when you're eating or getting up.

The other thing is whilst they say BT Audio. Having the technology also means with software updates you can enable other BT devices to interact (ones that may not even exist today).

 

[kpro]

These IFE are capable of streaming Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ etc just you need your own account.

I'm interested to see how this works in practice. A Disney+ 4K stream is 25mbps, and viasat advertises 100mbps bursts on their KA band satellites. So that's 4 people streaming 4K content?
Cathay's approach is to load certain Disney+ content onto their IFE server directly.

 

[elanshin]

I'm interested to see how this works in practice. A Disney+ 4K stream is 25mbps, and viasat advertises 100mbps bursts on their KA band satellites. So that's 4 people streaming 4K content?
Cathay's approach is to load certain Disney+ content onto their IFE server directly.

That could be the approach as well I guess, preloaded certain content. In theory with AI you could predictively load each passengers likely playlists whilst on the ground too as data and internet speeds massively increase although that future is probably still a bit aways.


Edit: should probably mention that i remember reading these Panasonic Astrova systems also save a lot of weight given their computing units are much smaller than the existing IFE systems.

 

[tomlee1986]

The upgrade is good but that could also mean the reliability for these services are at risk. This is because there had been too many delays in A330 fleet recently (now improving slightly), but still they could stretch the fleet too thin

 

[elanshin]

The upgrade is good but that could also mean the reliability for these services are at risk. This is because there had been too many delays in A330 fleet recently (now improving slightly), but still they could stretch the fleet too thin

Im not sure i track this. The fleet is a bit thin right now but once the refurbishment are done, the 321 XLR fleet is rolling in, more 220s are rolling in, 350-1000 are rolling in and won't be long between this program finishing and the 350-900/ 787-9/10 replacements also start rolling in.

QF would actually have a much younger fleet in a few years. We're suffering through the decisions (lack of) right now, but not necessarily in just over 2 years time.

If you mean problems with the existing network, we're likely to see a 330 intl route be pulled as I can't forsee QF flying just one route to NRT and 3 to HND.

 

[tomlee1986]

Im not sure i track this. The fleet is a bit thin right now but once the refurbishment are done, the 321 XLR fleet is rolling in, more 220s are rolling in, 350-1000 are rolling in and won't be long between this program finishing and the 350-900/ 787-9/10 replacements also start rolling in.

QF would actually have a much younger fleet in a few years. We're suffering through the decisions (lack of) right now, but not necessarily in just over 2 years time.

A321XR is a good replacement but I hope they will only start sending these A332 to refresh after the A321XR starts to arrive to prevent this situation from deteriorating even further

 

[elanshin]

A321XR is a good replacement but I hope they will only start sending these A332 to refresh after the A321XR starts to arrive to prevent this situation from deteriorating even further

There's already some changes that likely see more 330s freed up from the Int'l schedule changes. And the big elephant is will QF maintain 4 daily flights to tokyo. I don't see them flying just one flight to NRT and 3 to HND.

That would see one full plane be taken offline if they do that.

 

[tomlee1986]

There's already some changes that likely see more 330s freed up from the Int'l schedule changes. And the big elephant is will QF maintain 4 daily flights to tokyo. I don't see them flying just one flight to NRT and 3 to HND.

That would see one full plane be taken offline if they do that.

I honestly hope that will work but we will have to wait and see

 

[Saab34]

I welcome the mood lighting. All late night A330 flights I’ve had into Melbourne they had the lights on full. Drives me nuts. Many of the Chinese carriers also do this.

Virgin are very consistent with the use of mood lighting.

 

[Himeno]

There's already some changes that likely see more 330s freed up from the Int'l schedule changes. And the big elephant is will QF maintain 4 daily flights to tokyo. I don't see them flying just one flight to NRT and 3 to HND.

That would see one full plane be taken offline if they do that.

They are also pulling the 330 off BNE-LAX soonish when a 787 is freed up to replace it.

 

[moa999]

The other result of these refurbs and 332 retirements, is I suspect it means no widebodies on any Australian domestic routes from late 2026 or early 2027.

 

[Bugalugz]

This is what I expected the interior of the A321's to look like for economy, instead we will suffer the Jetstar seats with cloth and a head rest..................