Article: Qantas Will Refurbish Its Airbus A330s

It would make sense if they bring the younger 333 fleet into a similar design to the a350. im not sure if they would consider refurbishing the older fleet which i imagine would be the first to be retired in thr future.
 
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At first i thought theh wouldn't refurbish the J seats, but i wonder if they will. While they're quite serviceable as is, if the 330 ends up with the 350 Y and maybe W products but keep the old J, many functionality of the J products might feel dated conpared to the back of the plane.

Maybe a halfway refurbishment in J. Like new IFE with upgraded connectivity and charging?
 
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elanshin said:
At first i thought theh wouldn't refurbish the J seats, but i wonder if they will. While they're quite serviceable as is, if the 330 ends up with the 350 Y and maybe W products but keep the old J, many functionality of the J products might feel dated conpared to the back of the plane.

Maybe a halfway refurbishment in J. Like new IFE with upgraded connectivity and charging?
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There is probably a good chance that they make some adjustments in J. Thinking about the competitors on similar routes JAL, ANA and HA. They are all launching newer products. It really depends on what angle Qantas are taking to remain competitive.

Then again they might just get the government to block the competition.
 
Himeno said:
They should put 2 rows (14 seats) of prem econ on them.
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I was going to say that also but knew it won’t happen…

But would have been good to bring some consistency on routes that have a mix and match of A380/A330/B787 as well as an opportunity to roll out more PE (like a lot of airlines are doing).
 
SYD said:
I was going to say that also but knew it won’t happen…

But would have been good to bring some consistency on routes that have a mix and match of A380/A330/B787 as well as an opportunity to roll out more PE (like a lot of airlines are doing).
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And they can make money out of them on short routes (like AU transcon/golden triangle) by selling them with the extra legroom surcharge, as they already do for preselecting exit rows.
 
Knowing premium economy probably won't happen (sadly), I just hope some 'soft refreshments' happen such as:
- Repadding of the seats
- Hoping the overhead lockers and signs (i.e. the no smoking, seatbelt and toilet signs)
- A refreshing of the entertainment screens so you don't have to touch very hard to get them to work.
- Carpet replacement.

All of these may well happen but I hope they happen so that the aircraft feels new.

I flew on FinnAir's A330 to Singapore just two weeks ago. It is a 15 year old plane, yet given those soft touches, it felt only half the age of VH-EBS which is barely a decade old.
 
Having just flown on a A333 VH-EBO with the 737 IFE (I hadn't been on one of those yet, only ones with the newer IFE), it was funny to hear passengers behind me complaining authoritatively that this was the "oldest plane" in the fleet and not as good as the one they came over on.

It probably didn't help that we were delayed for four hours in Indonesia with the reverse thrust door not able to close after landing and no engineer at the airport at the time.

Is there a list that someone has compiled of the current A330 fleet and which ones (especially the A333s) have upgraded IFE?
 
NSun said:
Knowing premium economy probably won't happen (sadly), I just hope some 'soft refreshments' happen such as:
- Repadding of the seats
- Hoping the overhead lockers and signs (i.e. the no smoking, seatbelt and toilet signs)
- A refreshing of the entertainment screens so you don't have to touch very hard to get them to work.
- Carpet replacement.

All of these may well happen but I hope they happen so that the aircraft feels new.

I flew on FinnAir's A330 to Singapore just two weeks ago. It is a 15 year old plane, yet given those soft touches, it felt only half the age of VH-EBS which is barely a decade old.
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I think this exercise is probably only going to happen on the 8 international config A332s, which are quite a bit younger (circa-2009), and will probably involve replacing the Y seats on those, new seatback screens and some sprucing up of the cabin. I don't think they will do anything else with the A333s as they already have new seats and IFE from the 2015 exercise and the youngest of which is pushing 18 years now.

You're right, I was on EBS back in August and the cabin is in terrible condition for its age. I subsequently connected onto a CX A330, which was about 5 years older than EBS and it looked much better kept.
 
Qantas747 said:
there a list that someone has compiled of the current A330 fleet and which ones (especially the A333s) have upgraded IFE?
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Last post in the previous refurb tracker thread.
All the 333s are the same.

ALL QF's 330's to get lay flat Business seating - Including Domestic

Safer not to fly a damaged aircraft I'd suggest.... I - like EU261 - see this as a bit of a red herring. There is no question QF or any other airline would consider taking off with a damaged plane. But accidents with catering trucks or other airport equipment happen. It's a part of running an...
www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au
 
AFF Editor said:
Qantas Will Refurbish Its Airbus A330s is an article written by the AFF editorial team:


You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.
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Recently flew Economy Singapore-Melbourne overnight on an A330 and the “entertainment” was a bit of a disaster. At least 10 passengers - including me did not have ipads ( passengers pinch them apparently!). When the safety demonstration was playing the audio from the quirky historic QANTAS film was playing with no vision available!
On another matter had two short flights with Bangkok airways as part of my last trip and they were great. Proper meal service (even on a 55 min flight!), excellent service, on time, can use QANTAS points, lots to like.
 
Those Y seats look like they have very narrow arm rests, and those "sharp" seatback contours don't look very comfy for broader people.

Has anyone had any experience sitting in them who could comment?
 
It’s just beyond embarrassing that they even permit those A330 iPad jets to fly outside of domestic. Truly embarrassing compared to what else the competition has to offer.

Fly the IPad Y jet then jump on a QR, SQ etc flight, really stands out how far down the toilet QF has let itself go.
 
“But Qantas will install brand new, next-generation Economy Class seats.”

In the same way that Qantas uses the word ‘enhanced’, to me this actually means smaller, tighter and less comfortable Y seats…
 

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