250 and Counting

The definition of Qantas’s 250th Boeing is a little confusing too. That figure comprises all jet airliners ordered by Qantas, including TAA and Australian Airlines, delivered by Boeing and Douglas/ McDonnell Douglas, so it includes 727s, 737s, 747s, 767s and DC-9s. It doesn’t include, for example, a single 737-800 leased from CIT, the 717s now operated by Cobham for QantasLink as these aircraft were sourced from lessors (with many coming to QantasLink via Jetstar and in turn Impulse Airlines), and the Rolls-Royce-engined 767-300ERs acquired from British Airways. Nor does that number take into account piston-engined DC-3s and DC-4s.

So the definition of the number might need explaining, but the significance of the number doesn’t.

Qantas’s relationship with Boeing has been long, dating to the delivery of the airline’s first 707 in 1959, and enduring.

Indeed, taking into account aircraft acquired secondhand or indirectly via leases, Qantas has operated more than 290 Boeing (including Douglas heritage) aircraft. And with the first 787 delivery to Jetstar due in September, the Qantas Group’s relationship with Boeing will enter a new phase.

“Over the decades Qantas’s partnership with Boeing has been absolutely fundamental to our success as an airline,” Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said. “Together we’ve been responsible for some special moments in aviation history, from the invention of business class to important achievements in air navigation. ” It was perhaps fitting that the 250th aircraft milestone celebrations centred around the 101st 737 given the role the 737 has played in Qantas’s (and Australian Airlines’) fleet since entering service in 1986. In that time the 737 has been the mainstay of the Qantas domestic fleet, with (excluding leased or secondhand aircraft) deliveries of 16 737-300s, 20 737-400s, and now, with VH-XZG’s arrival, 65 737-800s with the 737 being by far the most numerous Boeing type to have seen Qantas service.

But there is some nice symmetry too in that the 737-800 was built at Renton, like that first Qantas 707 to be delivered, which was VH-EBB, and XZG’s delivery flight departed Boeing Field, as did VH-EBB when it departed Seattle for Australia in July 1958.

Also of note is that the first 707-138s were broadly similar in size and performance to the latest 737-838s, with a similar fuselage length and range. And there are features from the 707 that have carried through to the 737 such as the same basic nose design and the same fuselage cross-section. There were even some similarities in the ferry routings taken by the original EBB and today’s XZG, with both transiting via Honolulu and Nadi on their way to Sydney.

But there are plenty of differences too. When EBB was delivered, the government-owned Qantas had a fleet of barely 30 aircraft ranging from Lockheed Constellations to Douglas DC-3s, operating a sprawling international network. Today, the long-privatised Qantas is not just an airline but an airline group, operating more than 250 aircraft across Qantas International and Domestic, Jetstar (and the Jetstar Asia, Pacific and Japan operations), QantasLink and Network. But throughout all that change Qantas has remained a key Boeing customer. And for half that time, the 737 has been a constant of that relationship.

“The 737 is integral to our domestic strategy,” explains Steve Limbrick, executive manager of sales, marketing and distribution for Qantas Domestic, who was in Seattle for the delivery ceremony.

“It’s a fantastic aircraft for operating those high frequency domestic sectors we have in the Australian market, particularly on the Sydney-Melbourne, Sydney- Brisbane triangle. But the aircraft also works well for longer-haul domestic services, Sydney to Darwin for example. With 66 737-800s in service, going up to 75, it is integral to our fleet experience we provide in the Australian domestic market. ” New 737-800 deliveries are also allowing Qantas to continue to retire its remaining 737-400 ‘classic’ fleet. “We’ve got the youngest fleet since privatisation now at eight years across the Qantas branded airlines, so it allows us to continue to renew that fleet as well. ” Fleet renewal not only helps with reliability and the customer service proposition, but also brings substantive gains in fuel efficiency. VH-XZG should be in the order of 14 per cent more fuel efficient than the 737-400s it is helping to replace, Boeing says, thanks not just to the improvements introduced with the 737 NG series in the late 1990s, new CFM56-7 engines and winglets, but Boeing’s more recent Performance Improvement Program package of modifications that have cut fuel burn by two per cent.

Those constant iterative improvements and the 737’s operational reliability have seen Qantas re-order 737s on a regular basis.

“Safety, operational efficiency and the customer service delivery – that’s what has been so strong about our partnership with Boeing,” says Limbrick. “For us reliability is key where you have airports that are quite busy like we have in Australia, where it is important that you are making your slots, where it is important that you are operating as close to schedule as you can because that helps the overarching network run more efficiently and effectively. ” One man who has seen the 737’s efficiency and effectiveness first hand is Captain Alex Passerini, who was a member of the last intake of pilots into Australian Airlines before it merged into Qantas and was the technical acceptance pilot for the handover of XZG.

“Having flown them all, it is an amazing number of aeroplanes,” he muses. “They’ve all been fun. Bit more of a sports car, the -300, with its shorter wingspan and higher wing loading. The -800 rides the turbulence a lot better, the CFM56-7 engines are probably the most reliable engines in the world right now. It’s a fantastic engine. It’s great to see that evolution. ” Part of that evolution is the 737’s mature production process, with Boeing building 38 737s a month and preparing to move to a rate of 42 aircraft a month, or just over two each working day. And then further evolution is coming with the development of the 737 MAX, which promises another 13 per cent fuel burn reduction over the 737NG.

It remains to be seen if Qantas elects to begin replacing its older 737-800s, first delivered from 2002, with the 737 MAX, or switches to its Airbus A320 neo competitor (and the Qantas Group already has A320 neos on order, ostensibly for Jetstar), but regardless, with a number of 737-800 deliveries still to come, and Qantas typically operating its aircraft for 20 years, the 737 will continue to remain an integral part of the Qantas fleet far into the future.

Boeing & Qantas Milestones

1956
Qantas places its first order with Boeing, for the then
revolutionary 707.

1959
The 707 enters service, operating between San
Francisco and Sydney via Honolulu and Nadi.
1964
First TAA 727 (dubbed ‘Whispering T-Jet’)
delivered, introducing jet travel to the Australian
domestic market.

1967
First Douglas
DC-9 delivered.

1971
First of 51 Boeing
747s delivered

1974
A Qantas 747-200 uplifts a record 674 passengers during
the evacuation of Darwin following Cyclone Tracy.

1979
Qantas pioneers business class, on the 747.
1981
With the retirement of the 707, Qantas becomes the
world’s only all-747 airline.
1984
First 747-300 delivered (and 600th 747 built). This
aircraft is also the first to feature the new Qantas livery
without the winged flying kangaroo.

1985
First 767 delivered.
1986

First 737 delivered to the renamed Australian Airlines
1989
During its delivery flight, the first Qantas 747-400 sets
a world record for the longest non-stop flight by a
commercial aircraft, flying from London to Sydney in
just over 20 hours.
1992
Qantas takes delivery of its 100th Boeing, a 747-400.

2002
First 737-800 delivered.
2005
Original Boeing 787 order placed.
2011
Inaugural Qantas 747‑400ER nonstop service from
Sydney to Dallas Fort Worth, currently the world’s longest
scheduled RPT flight.
2013
250th Boeing and 100th 737 delivered in May.
2013
First Qantas Group 787 (for Jetstar) enters final assembly
in June.