Qantas to Lease Additional Aircraft, Ferries in First XLR
Qantas is increasing the number of A330-300s leased from Finnair to three, adding another four leased B737-800s to its fleet, and has ferried in its first A321-200XLR - capping off a busy week of fleet adjustments for Australia’s largest airline.
Qantas currently wet-leases two A330-300s from Finnair. They are OH-LTR (MSN 1067) and OH-LTS (MSN 1078). One operates the daily Sydney (SYD) – Bangkok (BKK) – Sydney service, while the other services a daily Sydney – Singapore (SIN) – Sydney rotation.
An internal industrial relations dispute at Finnair that briefly interrupted Qantas’ use of one of the A330s has been resolved.
The third A330-300, OG-LTU (MSN 1173), is still operating scheduled Finnair services. Before it begins flying for Qantas, it will be repainted in Qantas livery and re-registered as VH-QPL. Additionally, OH-LTR will be re-registered as VH-QPK and also repainted into Qantas colours.
The original lease agreements include a provision for Qantas to transition from wet leases to dry leases. One of the current aircraft, OH-LTS, will remain in Finnair livery. No changes will be made to the cabin configurations on any of the aircraft.
Qantas plans to operate the third A330 on the Sydney – Honolulu (HNL) route.
Meanwhile, an internal employee memo written by domestic chief executive Markus Svensson revealed plans to lease four mid-life B737-800s that will help cover ongoing aircraft delivery delays.
While not officially confirmed, the aircraft are believed to be the final B737-800s operated by Singapore Airlines. These planes are coming off lease at and are being replaced by B737-8s. They are currently configured in a two-cabin layout, with 12 business class seats and 150 economy seats. The lessor is Deucalion Aviation.
Svensson noted that the B737-800s will provide capacity cover and be refurbished to match Qantas' contemporary cabin design. He said the aircraft are expected to arrive by the end of the year.
“These aircraft will help us meet the demand we are seeing and provide some bridging capacity given the delivery delays we’ve experienced since our original narrowbody order was placed three years ago,” he wrote in the memo.
Separately, the first A321-200XLR, VH-OGA (MSN 12427), landed in Sydney on July 2 after a ferry flight from Germany via Bangkok.
This aircraft is the first of twenty-eight A321XLRs that Qantas has on order. The aircraft type features the widest cabin of any narrowbody aircraft globally and is expected to open up new route opportunities for the airline.
“We are proud to be the first A321XLR operator in the Asia-Pacific region, and its arrival marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Qantas,” said Svensson.
The aircraft has since been flown to Brisbane (BNE), where it will remain for about a week before beginning a series of trial flights along Australia’s eastern seaboard.
Photos: Qantas