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Qantas Freight has received the first of three additional Airbus A321 Passenger-to-Freighter (A321P2F) aircraft for Australia Post services, including at Western Sydney.
VH-XF7 arrived in Australia at the end of September and began services to WSI last week, having previously flown with China Southern Airlines as B-6307. According to Qantas, it and the two more A321P2Fs on the way will add up to 20 per cent capacity to the airline’s dedicated freighter network.
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“Australia’s freight network plays a critical role in connecting businesses and communities across the country,” said Qantas Freight executive manager Igor Kwiatkowski.
“This investment will help us support Australia Post and respond more effectively as demand for fast overnight deliveries continues to grow.”
According to Qantas, each of the new planes will be able to fly up to 20,000 Australia Post and StarTrack parcels per flight, more than double the capacity of the previous BAe 146-300 freighters that formerly operated the contract.
“The new freighters will support overnight and next-day deliveries across the country and will service all Qantas Freight domestic terminals including the new 24-hour terminal at Western Sydney International (WSI) Airport, which commenced operations in July,” the airline said.
“The additional two A321P2F freighters are scheduled to join the Qantas Freight fleet by March 2027.”
Australia Post has welcomed the new freighters, with general manager for linehaul fleet and special services Mark Davies saying they will help ensure “fast and reliable delivery”.
“These new aircraft will help us move more parcels across our network and provide additional capacity at a time when online shopping continues to grow and major retail events are driving record parcel volumes,” he said.
“Together with Qantas, we’re investing in the infrastructure that keeps Australia connected. The addition of these aircraft, alongside the opening of Western Sydney International Airport’s 24-hour freight terminal, will help strengthen the resilience and capacity of our network for years to come.”
Qantas opened its new freight precinct at WSI in July, and Kwiatkowski has labelled it “the jewel in the crown” of the carrier’s freight operation.
“Western Sydney Freight Precinct for Qantas is truly unique. It’s something we have spent many years building, thinking about, and now it’s here,” he said.
“For us, it’s really about future-proofing freight in the Sydney Basin. It’s a 20-year asset that we’ll continue to operate, and we’ll see it grow first with domestic operations, as we already are, and then we’ll see international flights come online in the not-too-distant future.”
Qantas previously contracted National Jet Express to operate the Bae 146-300 freighters on its StarTrack contract, which wrapped up earlier this year. NJE has now retired the aircraft type.
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