Lining Up

While the airline is not expected to make a call before the first of the 99 A320neo aircraft it has on firm order for Jetstar arrives at the end of calendar 2017, Joyce has confirmed Qantas intends to run a competition pitting the 737 MAX against the A320neo to determine the replacement for the current batch of 737 narrowbodies.

“We do have to run a competition at some stage about what the future replacement aircraft for that fleet is,” Joyce told reporters on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual general meeting in Dublin on June 1.

“It is between the 737 MAX and the neo. There are pros and cons we have to work through with both manufacturers.

“We go into these competitions with a complete open mind and then we determine which is the overall best position for the fleet and the group out of it.

“Both manufacturers will be keen to participate in that and it’s a process that, as I said, we have a little bit of time before we start. ” Factors to be considered in any competition include the cost of any change in fleet type from Boeing to Airbus narrowbodies, as well as what support would be required to ensure a smooth transition. Further, the availability of aircraft would also play a role in coming to the decision.

Airbus delivered the first A320neo, powered by Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines, to Lufthansa in December 2015. Two more airlines have joined the neo club so far in 2016, with India-based IndiGo and GoAir inducting their first neos in the first half of the year.

Joyce confirmed the 99 A320neos, which will be powered by CFM LEAP-1A engines, would be for the Jetstar group of airlines across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan, as older A320s are paid off and to cover growth.

“The neo order that we have was an order that was put in place for the Jetstar operation,” Joyce said.

“Jetstar is over 120 aircraft. What we have in terms of neo orders – and there are options to exercise and potentially take more – but even the firm aircraft doesn’t cover the current fleet. ” The A320neo LEAP-1A engine received its type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on May 31, with Airbus chief executive Fabrice Bregier making the announcement at the manufacturer’s Innovation Days media briefings in Hamburg.

Certification of the A320neo’s CFM powerplants came about six months after regulators approved the Pratt & Whitney Pure Power PW1100G-JM engine variant of the updated single-aisle workhorse.

“These two engines are very good engines,” Bregier said.

“We need both to cope with our ramp up challenges. You will see, I think, the first CFM-powered engine in service probably this summer, July or August. ” Jetstar group chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka said she was “really excited” about the impending arrival of the A320neo in Jetstar colours.

“The neo is a very important part of the Jetstar fleet outlook,” Hrdlicka said.

Currently, Qantas has 67 Australian-registered 737-800s, with a further eight of the type holding New Zealand ZK- registrations flying the trans- Tasman with the airline’s Jetconnect subsidiary.

The oldest of Qantas mainline’s 737s was delivered in 2002, while the newest – VH-XZP or Retro Roo I – joined the fleet in November 2014. The airline has no outstanding orders for narrowbody aircraft.

The Australian-registered 737s are currently undergoing cabin modifications at Qantas’s Brisbane and Sydney maintenance hangars. The airline is adding an extra row of economy seats to increase the passenger count from 168 (12 business, 156 economy) to 174, alongside slimline lavatories and smaller galleys.

Seat pitch in economy remains at 30in following the reconfiguration. The aircraft are also expected to be refreshed with new seat covers and interiors.

Further, 38 of the 67 aircraft that did not have seat-back inflight entertainment will have wireless technology installed to give passengers the option of streaming content onto their own personal devices via the airline’s Q-Streaming application.

The ZK-registered fleet already features the latest Boeing Sky Interior cabins and seat-back inflight entertainment.

We go into these competitions with a complete open mind. ALAN JOYCE

Qantas has been working its 737 workhorses harder in recent times through increased fleet utilisation and adding more 35-minute turns on domestic flights while achieving the best on-time performance in the airline’s history in 2015.

Joyce said the recent move to reduce capacity growth in the Australian market had impacted the utilisation of Qantas’s 737s.

However, that had been mitigated by shuffling around aircraft from the domestic to international market, such as on Perth-Singapore which was now up to 10 flights a week.

Further, Joyce noted Qantas’s 737 fleet utilisation “overtook our competitor for the first time since I think they were created”, referring to Virgin Australia.

Airbus currently holds 4,568 orders for its A320neo Family, while Boeing’s 737 MAX series has secured 3,213 orders.

777s and A350-900ULH under consideration

On the international front, the development of ultra long-haul aircraft such as the Boeing 777-8X and -9X and Airbus A350-900ULR has the potential to open up new opportunities for Qantas’s international operations, through opening up “Holy Grail” routes such as nonstop services from Australia to London and New York.

Qantas International chief executive Gareth Evans said the airline was in discussions with Boeing about the 777X and with Airbus on the A350.

“Like we are with both manufacturers with all aircraft developments, because of our history and because of the long sectors that we operate on and our operational excellence, we want to be involved with them and they want us to be involved with them,” Evans said.

Joyce said these ultra long-haul aircraft could completely change the game for Qantas.

“It allows us to have a network that we could have only dreamed of in the past,” he said.

“It allows us to offer our customers more direct destinations and I think that’s going to be fantastic for the consumers. ” Qantas is yet to order either the 777-8X or -9X (first delivery expected in 2020), or the A350-900ULR (launch customer Singapore Airlines is starting nonstop Singapore-US flights in 2018), but Joyce said he expected to be able to secure delivery slots for either type should Qantas pull the trigger on an order.

“What Boeing and Airbus always do, they keep some slots back for big brands like Qantas so we would be able to get availability when we needed it,” Joyce said.

“We want to make sure the aircraft does the critical missions. That takes a bit of time and a bit of work. ”

787-9 network, cabin configuration taking shape

In the more immediate term, Qantas is continuing to work through the cabin configuration of its initial batch of eight 787-9s, due to begin arriving from the 2017/18 financial year.

The airline had previously confirmed the 787-9s would be configured with business, premium economy and economy, with Belfast-based Thomson Aero Seating – the manufacturer and designer of the new business seats on Qantas’s A330s – again called upon to come up with the cabin products on board the Flying Kangaroo’s Dreamliners.

“It is going to have that sort of premium balance to it,” Evans said.

“The sort of galley configurations and space is the sort you need to have the level of catering uplift for long-haul sectors. ” Evans promised, “It is going to be a premium-configured three-class 787 and we are working through the finalisation of the product. ” Joyce added the 787-9s will feature a “very luxurious configuration” with big business and premium economy cabins. Further, he promised a “very good seat pitch” for economy.

Although some airlines have suffered delays to delivery because of production issues at seat and cabin product manufacturers – lead times of 18 months or longer are commonplace – Evans was confident Thomson would be able to deliver on time and to the required standard.

“Thomson, which is a newish but growing high-quality supplier of seats is who we are working with on a number of products for the aircraft and because of our previous relationship with them and the way they are positioned in the market we are very confident about how our supply chain is going to work,” Evans said.

Delays to seats, galleys and lavatories have plagued Airbus so far in 2016, resulting in only nine A350s being delivered by the end of May. As a result, Airbus has plenty of ground to make up if it is to keep to its guidance of handing over the keys to 50 A350s by the end of calendar 2016.

A clearly frustrated Bregier has put seat manufacturers on notice to pick up their game.

“The passengers, it means you and me, and when they fly, especially long-range they expect toilets to have doors which close,” Bregier told reporters at the Airbus Innovation Days media briefing in Hamburg on May 31.

“We have many options and we have tested many contractual ways to try to have a better grip on cabin suppliers who are very good at marketing.

“They are understaffed in manufacturing engineering, in quality, in program management, in supply chain management. They just cannot continue like that.

“This message I will constantly repeat very vocally and I will progressively manage to get rid of the delinquent suppliers who are not catching up to the standards which are requested by their customers, which are no longer the standards of aerospace of the ’70s or ’80s. ” Although Qantas has stated previously the 787-9s were partly a replacement aircraft for the Boeing 747-400/400ERs and partly for growth, the airline has yet to confirm which routes the first eight Dreamliners would operate on.

Joyce said the network (Sydney-Chicago, Melbourne and Brisbane to Dallas/Fort Worth and Perth-London were all on the list of potential routes), as well as decisions on where the aircraft would be based and where the flight training simulators would be, was still being worked through.

“It depends on the support that we get from the governments and the airports as to what network we will eventually settle on,” Joyce said.

“We are just starting that dialogue. ” Separately, Qantas has completed the refurbishment of all 10 A330-300s with the new Thomson Vantage business class seats and a refreshed economy cabin. Refitting the A330-200s is continuing.

We want to make sure the aircraft does the critical missions. ALAN JOYCE