Qantas crew picked up the latest aircraft, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, to join the Qantas fleet last week in Seattle, touching down in Australia on Sunday after a 16-hour delivery flight.
VH-ZNN, named ‘Snowy River’, has been undergoing a series of pre-service checks and modifications over the last few days and will operate its first commercial service today, flying as QF9 from Melbourne to London via Perth.
This is Qantas’ 14th and for now final 787-9 delivery.
The Qantas Dreamliners are configured in a three-class configuration, with business class, premium economy and economy class available for sale.
The 787-9s will continue to form the backbone of the Qantas international fleet for many years to come.
From 2025, they will be joined by 12 Airbus A350-1000s that have been ordered to operate nonstop ‘Project Sunrise’ flights from Australia to other cities including New York and London.
These will carry 238 passengers across four classes (first, business, premium economy, and economy), with more than 40 per cent of the cabin dedicated to premium seating.
Domestically, Qantas will start the renewal of its narrowbody jets as part of ‘Project Winton’ with firm orders for 20 Airbus A321XLRs and 20 A220-300s as its Boeing 737s and 717s are gradually retired.
The first of these aircraft will start to arrive in late calendar 2023, with the order including purchase right options for another 94 aircraft for delivery through to at least 2034.
