Australian carrier Qantas may be set to remove some of its business class seats as the demand for premium travel plummets, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report quotes the carrier’s chief executive Alan Joyce as saying that “Ideally, in the current environment, we wouldn’t have as many premium seats as we have”.
Qantas was one of the first carriers to introduce a business class product at the start of the 1980s, but has recently seen demand for its premium seats fall by some 30 per cent. Bloomberg says that up to 40 per cent of the space on the airline’s Boeing 747 aircraft is used for business and first class seating.
Qantas recently postponed the delivery of its next four A380 superjumbos by 10-12 months. On this aircraft the carrier currently offers 14 first class suites, 72 fully-flat business class seats, 32 premium economy seats and 332 economy seats – for a seatplan of the Qantas A380 click here.
For more information visit qantas.com.au, bloomberg.net.
