Qantas adds nine more Airbus A220s to its order book

Qantas ordered nine Airbus A220 aircraft, continuing its efforts to renew its domestic fleet, finalizing purchase rights options from a previous order.

The airline now expects to receive a total of 29 Airbus A220-300 jets in the next six years. In terms of deliveries during the next three years, Qantas expects to receive five in FY24, which is between June 2023 and June 2024, nine in FY25, and 10 in FY26. The remaining aircraft should be delivered to the Australian carrier by FY29.

Qantas is replacing the Boeing 737 and Boeing 717s with the Airbus A321XLR and Airbus A220s, respectively, as looks to renew its domestic fleet. According to planespotters.net data, the carrier’s 737 and 717s are on average 15.9 and 21 years old, respectively. In total, it operates 79 Boeing 737 and 20 Boeing 717 aircraft.

“Thank you, Qantas! The airline has announced that it will order nine more A220 under its ongoing fleet replacement programme,” Airbus said in a statement posted to Twitter. The Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) added that it is looking forward to “the airline becoming the first to fly this latest addition to the Airbus Family in the Pacific.”

In total, Airbus has 692 orders for the A220-300, in addition to 93 orders for the A220-100. It has delivered 192 A220-300 and 56 A220-100s as of January 31, 2023.

Barring Qantas’ latest order, Delta Air Lines was the only airline to order the type in 2023, according to Airbus’ Orders and Deliveries file for January 2023. Throughout the same month, the OEM delivered two A220-300s, one to Air Canada and one to Iraqi Airways.