Qantas has welcomed the delivery of its final Boeing 787 as part of its international network.
The final Boeing 787, titled ‘Snowy River’, touched down in Melbourne, Australia, a handful of days ago following a long journey from Seattle. This is where the aircraft undertook numerous tests to prepare to fly with passengers onboard.
These Boeing 787s, especially the most recent batch delivered to the Australian airline, have been a long-time in the making, given they sat in storage for years before being delivered. This resulted from issues not just with the 787 but the broader world, as pandemic-related restrictions meant Qantas grounded its international fleet, including the 787.
The fleet of Qantas Dreamliners now sits at 14. While a landmark moment with the final delivery being secured it still leaves many people questioning what’s next for the flying kangaroo.
The expansion of the airline has been hot on the lips of many, and the lack of aircraft that Qantas has. While the company has orders placed for the A350-1000 that’ll fulfil its requirements for Project Sunrise, with this being the last 787, there are question marks over how it’ll continue to compete with other airlines and expand with constraints on available units.
While welcoming its final Boeing 787s, Qantas has also turned the Airbus A380 to service. Returning the world’s largest passenger plane has given the company much-needed capacity on some of its most popular routes. However, it has needed to draft in help from Oneworld partner Finnair with Airbus A330s to boost power.
The flag carrier is also studying a replacement for its Airbus A330 fleet, with no doubt the ambition to have this replacement be capable of operating to international ports too. A decision is expected on that front shortly. However, even with that, there are concerns that 14 Boeing 787s won’t be enough for decades to come.
