Qantas has confirmed that it will take delivery of three further Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners as early as next year, after suspending deliveries in May 2020.
The airline now operates 11 of the 236-seat widebodies, which serve London, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
The deliveries mean that Qantas will fulfil its increased order for six extra 787-9s, which was placed in 2018 and was initially scheduled for delivery last year.
The aircraft initially entered Qantas’ service in October 2017, and it is most known for completing a Project Sunrise test flight straight between London and Sydney in 2019.
When Qantas announced that two of its A330-200 passenger aircraft would be converted into freighters in response to a boom in online shopping, the news came simultaneously.
It will utilise one of the planes, which has 28 business and 243 economy seats, to deliver parcels for the company’s fleet that serves Australia Post. At the same time, the other will be used for international freight.
According to CEO Alan Joyce, the Australian airline Qantas’ freight business “boomed” during the pandemic, who expects this effect to continue even when restrictions are lifted.
He said there would be a 50-ton cargo capacity per flight on the retrofitted A330 aircraft for Australia Post, which is more than double the capacity of previous freighters flying for the national mail service.
There are now 20 A330s in Qantas’ fleet, 11 of which are the -200 model and nine of which are the -300.
EFW, an Airbus-ST Engineering joint company, will perform the conversion work.
Conversion work includes:
- The removal of seats.
- The installation of a cargo handling system.
- The replacement of the cabin door.
Source: Australian Aviation
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