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Qantas to defer Dreamliner delivery

Originally published on www.businesstraveller.asia 17/02/2012 - Filed under: News »

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Qantas has announced it will push back service entry of its Boeing B787-8 Dreamliner aircraft as a way of reducing expenditure between 2012 and 2013.

Chief executive of the carrier, Alan Joyce, said the deferrals, which were “due to manufacturer delays” will help the carrier reduce projected capital expenditure from AUD$2.5 billion (US$2.6 billion) to AUD$2.3 billion (US$2.4 billion) for the year 2012 and “from a projected AUD$2.8 billion (US$3 billion) down to AUD$2.3 billion (US$2.4 billion) for financial year 2013, with further cuts to be identified for that year,” he said.

As reported earlier (see story here), the carrier was originally scheduled for delivery in mid-2013 however a new delivery date has not yet been announced. Of the 50 Dreamliners Qantas has on order, 15 will be used to replace some of Jetstar’s A330-200 aircraft in order to give the low-cost carrier a competitive edge. 

Meanwhile, Qantas has deployed its third refurbished Boeing B747-400 aircraft featuring upgraded seats and services similar to those currently installed on the carrier’s Airbus A380 aircraft.

The refurbished aircraft began serving the Brisbane-Los Angeles route today, alongside another revamped B747 already operating this route. Another one of the three revamped B747s serves the Sydney-Dallas route and will eventually serve flights from Sydney to Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, although a confirmed date for the latter two has not yet been announced.

The revamp of the first of nine B747s due for the makeover began in September last year (see story here) and the carrier is expected to receive the remaining upgraded jets by the end of 2012.

The retrofit will do away with first class seats replacing them with fully flat-bed business class seats. The aircraft is now configured to feature 58 business class seats, 36 premium economy seats and 270 economy seats alongside a self-service snack bar in the economy cabin and upgraded inflight entertainment systems.

For more information, visit www.qantas.com.au

Alisha Haridasani

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COMMENTS » 

MJLRGS97 - 17/02/2012 09:27

To what date will they be pushed back to?

alisha.h - 17/02/2012 10:18

Thank you MJLRGS97 for your comment. Unfortunately, a new delivery date of the Dreamliner has not yet been announced and we have amended our piece to reflect that.

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