It seems that Qantas is extending the life of its Airbus A330 fleet, with a cabin upgrade programme announced… for its Economy Cabin.
The Airbus A330-200s are used on flights from Austraila to Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo as part of a major refurbishment program. It will cover 10 Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
The multimillion-dollar investment in cabin upgrades will be rolled out across 10 A330-200 aircraft and includes:
- Installing the brand-new Economy seats that have been designed with extra customer comfort for Qantas’ Project Sunrise ultra-long haul flights. These were previously announced as the Recaro CL3810 – now known as The Recaro R3
- 4K OLED 13.3” entertainment touchscreens for Economy with the latest generation user interface (20 per cent larger than the existing screen).
- USB-C fast charging and Bluetooth audio connectivity for Economy which allow users to use their own headphones.
Other key elements of the A330 cabin upgrade program include new mood lighting and the replacement of all curtains and carpets.
The existing Business Suites with fully-flat beds will remain on the aircraft, based on the Thomspon Vantage XL seat. These are the same seats which feature on Qantas’ A380 and 787 Dreamliner fleet.
Work and Rollout
Work on the first A330 is expected to start in mid-2025 in Qantas’ Brisbane maintenance facility with the first refurbished aircraft entering service by the end of the calendar year.
The refurbishment program is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
And their replacement…
Qantas announced the final piece of its jet fleet renewal program last year with a firm order for 24 aircraft to progressively replace its existing A330s – 12 Airbus A350s and 12 Boeing 787s arriving from FY27 into the next decade.
The longer range delivered by the 787 and A350 aircraft on order means they will be able to operate all the routes the A330s currently operate, as well as open up new ones.
The A330 aircraft being upgraded are scheduled to leave the Qantas fleet towards the end of the replacement program.
Finally some Wi-Fi
Qantas has started its “Fast and Free” Wi-Fi rollout across its Airbus A330 fleet. This is expected to be available for some routes in Asia on the Wi-Fi-enabled A330 aircraft from December this year.
Passengers on activated aircraft can already connect to W-Fi while flying over Australia to destinations such as Hong Kong, Delhi and Bengaluru.
In Quotes
Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said:
“We’ve used our fleet renewal program to completely rethink the inflight experience and these cabin upgrades mean we can bring next-generation features and designs to our existing aircraft,” said Mr Wallace.
“Customers can look forward to brand new Economy seats that have been specially created to maximise comfort and provide features that our customers want for international travel. They’re the same seats that will feature on our ultra long haul A350-1000ULR aircraft, so it will be a preview of the Project Sunrise flying experience.”
It’s nice to see things happen in the back of the aircraft
We’ve seen many announcements which have focused on the front of the cabin, with big seats going in – so it’s great to see big upgrades finally hit the back of the cabin.
At Economy Class and Beyond, we’ve been keeping a close eye on the Recaro R3 seat that Qantas intends to use (which we’ve been covering since 2021) and has since been a popular uptake by airlines as they seek to renew their long haul cabins or install for new build.
We took another look at these at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2024, with comfort expected (and required) of a long haul economy class seat.
Reccaro R3 seat
Inter-row at 30″ Seat pitch
With the tray table deployed.
For passengers – it’ll be a big step up in comfort – which on these Asia-Austrailian flights will be a welcome thing to see.
Renders, Qantas.
Disclosures: Recaro Aircraft Seating invited Economy Class and Beyond to an event at AIX 2024
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