It is presumed Qantas will make an update later this month surrounding its fleet renewal plan detailing that the national carrier will likely order the Dreamliner aircraft it once tore up the purchase options for.
In a bid to further its post-pandemic aviation rebound, incoming CEO, Vanessa Hudson said the airline will begin to replace its aging A330 aircraft in the second half of the year.
In 2012, current CEO, Alan Joyce cancelled an order for 35 Dreamliner aircraft, an order which at the time was worth $8.5 billion, and later cancelled options to buy 50 more.
The tearing up of these contracts in 2012 could prove a costly mistake over a decade later as both leading manufacturers of commercial aircraft (Airbus and Boeing) outlining delays to their manufacturing process as a result of COVID will mean the delivery of new aircraft will not occur until the end of the decade.
Some aviation experts suggest that Qantas may look at ordering the larger Airbus A350 instead of the A330 neo (depending on availability) to improve interoperability on domestic and international routes and streamline maintenance.
At the end of 2021, Qantas ditched their Boeing contemporaries and chose Airbus A320neo and A220 jets to renew the airlines ageing narrow-body fleet, and revealed an expected earnings loss of up to $1.1 billion in the first half of the 2022 financial year.
