QF Domestic Fleet Renewal: Airbus 320neo/220 Preferred

[HS-TQE]

I would not be surprised if there are some A320neo conversions down the line for core mainline QF flying.

Although as pointed out, moving the JQ A320s over to QF is one option. QFLink (Network) already has ex-JQ A320s in their fleet.

 

[jb747]

20 223s are for mainline.

Mainline won't get any 220s.

This is a first for Alan. In his entire tenure, which is now 13 years, he has not ordered one aircraft for mainline.

 

[TheInsider]

Mainline won't get any 220s.

This is a first for Alan. In his entire tenure, which is now 13 years, he has not ordered one aircraft for mainline.

220s will go to NJS I reckon.

 

[RichardMEL]

While 321XLR to JQ makes a lot of sense to open up Asian flying I could definitely see some at mainline with a mini J (yes yes..) suite like SQ has done with the MAX for longer but thinner routes. It certain opens up options.

The 220's would definitely go to the regionals as 717 replacements as stated in the release.

 

[jakeseven7]

Looks great

 

[Kendall Roy]

Just need to offload the Squeezeliner for some A350s, then they can really cut ties with the MBA mob in Seattle.

 

[jakeseven7]

I'm not surprised by the Airbus order over Boeing but I am surprised that they are going with only the A321XLR (we're talking about the A320 family here as they're also ordering the A220). I thought they'd have a mix, as you'd think the A321XLR seems a bit excessive for domestic flights.

In terms of pax capacity they were running 763's not that long ago (oh the glory days of widebody domestic travel lol)

 

[Scarlett]

Looks great

View attachment 267202

Where’s the ‘link’ after QANTAS?

 

[jakeseven7]

While 321XLR to JQ makes a lot of sense to open up Asian flying I could definitely see some at mainline with a mini J (yes yes..) suite like SQ has done with the MAX for longer but thinner routes. It certain opens up options.

JQ already has its own order in as well, but yes we can expect to see some mix and matching happening as things change closer to delivery dates I would imagine.


And another:

 

[moa999]

I think this also opens up a a general question for the future of flying to Asia for Qantas.

The first four 332s (2002-2003) are almost as old as the oldest 737s (from 2002) and the 333s (2003-2005) only just behind that.

Qantas still has a bunch of 787 options and rights but we may well see a lot more narrow bodies and less widebodies in the future.

It also presumably plays into contract negotiations for the new type - do you have a common pilot pool for international and dom, or keep them separate.

Alternatively to 787s we could see them bring in regular 350s alongside a reactived Sunrise 350LR order.

Lots of questions, little answers in today's announcement.

 

[HS-TQE]

The 789s will still feature

I'm not surprised by the Airbus order over Boeing but I am surprised that they are going with only the A321XLR (we're talking about the A320 family here as they're also ordering the A220). I thought they'd have a mix, as you'd think the A321XLR seems a bit excessive for domestic flights.

I think it also allow QF scheduling flexibility. It also opens up thin routes ex PER as well as from the larger East Coast cities.

A PER East coast overnighter would allow QF to schedule it on a Asian run 2-3 hours later.

 

[Berlin]

This is really good news and I’m actually surprised that Qantas resisted getting some of those Max murder machines at the cheap. And even besides the obvious safety issues with the Max, I always found the A320 family more comfortable from a passenger perspective than the 737.

Now it’s just time to finally firm up those A350s…

 

[jakeseven7]

This is really good news and I’m actually surprised that Qantas resisted getting some of those Max murder machines at the cheap. …

A small part of me wonders if this ‘preferred’ stage is a tactic to screw Boeing down even more… but then they will probably use it to screw Airbus down a bit more. The rationale seems pretty strong to go with the Airbus family….

Don’t worry VA2 are still ordering the Max if you want to live dangerously

 

[moa999]

Interesting comment also from airliners that this new order is with P&W engines whereas at least the first Jetstar 321s are Leap.

 

[Danger]

ASX market update

"Project Winton: Airbus A320neo and A220 families chosen as preferred aircraft for domestic fleet renewal. Order anticipated to be finalised by the end of FY22. "

Subject to final Board approval, an order is anticipated by the end of FY22 consisting of 40 firm commitments and 94 purchase right options, with flexibility on timing and mix of aircraft from within these two families

So, just to be clear, this is an announcement about a possible announcement that's as long as 12 months away, yeah? Another win for the marketing team.

 

[Daver6]

These long range narrow bodies have me concerned. Hopefully they just go to J*.

 

[moa999]

These long range narrow bodies have me concerned. Hopefully they just go to J*.

I think it's fairly clear that the 40 - 20 321XLRs and 20 223s will have Red Tails, and probably some with Link wording.

And yes, we will have to get used to longer narrow body flights, but it will probably be with a much better J.

As efficiency gets better, aircraft fly longer.
First it was big four engined jets, then big two engined jets, and now small two engined jets

 

[RichardMEL]

jetBlue and SQ 737MAX have shown that a narrowbody (in J) does not have to be horrible for a medium haul trip. Check some reviews of B6 Mint between JFK and LHR for example.

And this is the aircraft to open up routes they couldn't work with larger aircraft. Think ADL-SIN, AKL/CHC, maybe PER-KUL/BKK or things like that and even add frequency to other routes like PER-SIN. How about CBR-CGK?

Here's the real question - which would be more important? routes and possibly frequency vs aircraft type?

In the back a 321 is more or less the same as a 787 or 330 (well, the 330 has the 2 side seats vs 3 which is nicer true) and if the J was a reasonably upgraded hard product I am not sure many would worry too much.

Don't get me wrong I'd prefer a widebody myself - but this kind of aircraft potentially offers some really interesting pptions to expand service offerings.

now if they fitted out a poor premium product akin to current domestic J offerings, that would definitely change the metric for those looking to fly premium on these routes.. so it will just be a case of hurry up and wait to see what is done with this fleet type. The opportunities opened could be really interesting.. it depends how much QF want to invest in product I guess.

 

[Andrew Curran]

A very good week for Airbus. In addition to the Qantas and SQ freighter orders, they've picked up the bulk of the big Air France-KLM order overnight

Airbus lands Air France-KLM jet order, capping trio of deals

Airbus completed a triple crown of aircraft orders at the expense of rival Boeing on Thursday with a deal to supply 100 narrowbody jets to Air France-KLM subsidiaries in the airline group's largest purchase based on number of jets.

www.reuters.com

 

[Mattg]

now if they fitted out a poor premium product akin to current domestic J offerings, that would definitely change the metric for those looking to fly premium on these routes.. so it will just be a case of hurry up and wait to see what is done with this fleet type. The opportunities opened could be really interesting.. it depends how much QF want to invest in product I guess.

Yeah - hopefully if Qantas is going to use this on longer routes to take advantage of the aircraft’s range, they’ll at least install a competitive lie-flat J product! Nobody really wants to pay J prices to sit in a recliner on an overnight CGK-CBR flight…