The Qantas Group has announced several updates to its fleet plan, designed to help restore capacity faster and meet strong demand from leisure travel, resources and domestic freight markets.

As announced last year, the Group has orders and purchase right options for up to 299 narrowbody aircraft and firm orders for 12 widebody aircraft with Airbus to update and grow its fleet over the next decade and beyond.

Four of those aircraft have already been delivered and nine more are expected to arrive this year* in addition to three Boeing 787s, but rolling delays of up to six months for other aircraft are expected over the next couple of years due to global supply chain issues.

Core to the changes announced today is the decision to acquire several mid-life A320-family aircraft for freight and resources customers to help offset these delays. Once the delayed aircraft are delivered, the Group has the option to retire or retain the aircraft they were originally designed to replace, depending on market conditions.

In summary, the changes are:

• Five mid-life A319/320 aircraft to support the growth of the resources market in Western Australia, for delivery in FY24.
  
• Three additional mid-life A321P2F aircraft to accelerate renewal of Qantas Freight fleet, for delivery in FY25 and FY26.
  
• Two additional A320s for Jetstar Asia as demand across Asia rebounds, for delivery in mid calendar year 2023. This will bring its total fleet size back up to nine aircraft.
  
• Options for up to 12 additional E190 aircraft to be wet leased from Alliance Airlines to provide increased capacity and network connectivity in the domestic market.
  
• Exercising nine existing purchase right options for A220 aircraft, for delivery in FY26 and FY27 as part of ‘Project Winton’ deal with Airbus.

The investment in additional fleet is accounted for as part of the increase in Qantas’ FY23 and FY24 capital expenditure, announced in the Group’s first half 2023 results today.