Qantas staff circulation:
B747 UPGRADE AND A380 CHANGES ANNOUNCED Also announced yesterday was a $400 million investment to upgrade seats and inflight entertainment on nine Boeing 747-400 aircraft, and reconfigure the Airbus A380 fleet to meet the changes in international demand. At the end of 2011, work will commence to install the A380’s award-winning Business and Economy seats in the nine B747s, along with the A380’s state-of-the-art Panasonic inflight entertainment system. While the B747s will be converted to a three-class configuration, First Class will remain on 12 A380s to provide this premium product on daily services from Sydney and Melbourne to London via Singapore and Los Angeles. The changes will see:
- Nine B747-400s upgraded and fitted with the A380’s fully flat Skybed sleeper seat in Business, the Recaro manufactured seat in Economy and the Panasonic inflight entertainment in all classes
- First class cabins will be removed and Business seats installed in their place
- The three-class configuration will offer 359 seats (58 Business, 36 Premium Economy and 265 Economy), an increase of 52 seats overall
- 12 A380s will continue to fly with a four-class configuration, including First Class, but be refitted to reduce Business seating and increase Premium Economy and Economy seating
- The remaining eight aircraft will be delivered from 2012 in a three-class configuration and with no First cabin