Qantas brings Airbus A380-retirement forward
During the presentation of its FY26-figures, Qantas announced it is moving the retirement of its A380-fleet forward. Initially, the plan was to begin phasing-out the type in 2032 but this is now being brought forward to 2028.
The airline has ten A380s in its fleet and has made this decision as it wants to tackle increasing operational risks and maintenance costs due to supply chain challenges with the aircraft being out of production.
Qantas is planning to replace the A380 with the twelve A350-1000s it has on order. These are the "regular" version of the A350 as the airline also has twelve A350-1000ULRs on order for its Project Sunrise. The first of which is expected to be delivered later this year. Apart from the A350-1000, it also has open widebody-orders with Boeing for four more B787-9s and eight B787-10s.
According to the press-release, Qantas is also in talks with both Airbus and Boeing to firm up options it holds for around 20 additional widebodies. Delivery of these should commence from 2030 onwards.
Today, the Qantas-fleet is consisting of seven A321neos, sixteen A330-200s, thirteen A330-300s, ten A380s, 79 B737-800s, and fourteen B787-9s.
