QANTAS ORDERS 20 MORE AIRBUS A321XLR'S
Qantas has ordered 20 more Airbus A321XLRs, as it prepares for the service entry of its first example in September.
The Australian carrier says most of the additional A321XLRs will be deployed on longer sectors – including short- and medium-haul international routes – and will be configured with lie-flat seats in business class.
The orders, which were announced alongside the release of Qantas’ full-year financial results, are on top of existing commitments for 28 A321XLRs, and deliveries of the additional aircraft will only commence in 2028.
Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson says the fresh orders “will accelerate the retirement” of its older Boeing 737s, which currently form the backbone of its short-haul and domestic operations.
“Not only will the A321XLRs help us serve the corporate market travelling between Perth and the east coast of Australia, they will also allow us to expand flying on existing routes into Southeast Asia and open up new possibilities like Perth-India and Adelaide-Singapore,” Hudson adds.
The Oneworld operator received first A321XLR in July this year, and expects to deploy the type into service in mid-September. It will be the first Asia-Pacific operator to operate the type
The A321XLR will initially operate trunk domestic routes, such as Sydney-Melbourne and Sydney-Perth, before being “progressively” rolled out to other routes in the network.
By end-June 2026, Qantas says it expects to have seven A321XLRs in its fleet. Low-cost unit Jetstar will take delivery of its first A321XLR in 2027, which it will use on international flights.
Qantas Group firmed its commitments for the A321XLRs in 2022, as part of sweeping fleet renewal efforts that also it order A220s, A350s and more 787s.
For the year ended 30 June, the group posted an underlying pre-tax profit of A$2.4 billion ($1.56 billion), up 15% year on year, as it saw “continuing strong demand” across different market segments.
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