Qantas boosts international capacity, wet lease Finnair aircraft

[evanb]

Finnair A330s operated by Qantas. First route scheduled SYD-HNL from 30 March 2026:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1921800716013674557

 

[dairyfloss]

Finnair A330s operated by Qantas. First route scheduled SYD-HNL from 30 March 2026:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1921800716013674557

Noooooooooo!!! Actually HA will be in OW by then too, so can switch to them for proper J seats

 

[justinbrett]

Noooooooooo!!! Actually HA will be in OW by then too, so can switch to them for proper J seats

If it's the HA A330 seats then I beg to differ.

The 80s called, they want their business seats back!

 

[dairyfloss]

If it's the HA A330 seats then I beg to differ.

The 80s called, they want their business seats back!

Yeah, was thinking about the 787 hard product. They said last year amongst all the updates that they were planning to put them on AU routes, but nothing as yet that I can recall in terms of that firming up.

 

[justinbrett]

Yeah, was thinking about the 787 hard product. They said last year amongst all the updates that they were planning to put them on AU routes, but nothing as yet that I can recall in terms of that firming up.

I flew them AKL-HNL-LAS in December and it was the old A330 on both routes.

Better than economy for sure but not competitive for modern business class. I also thought their J catering was not competitive.

 

[moa999]

Finnair A330s operated by Qantas. First route scheduled SYD-HNL from 30 March 2026:

Isn't it now (or becoming in Sept 2025) a singular plane lease, after the other one was terminated recently.

 

[evanb]

Isn't it now (or becoming in Sept 2025) a singular plane lease, after the other one was terminated recently.

Well it's down to one right now?

But no, conceptually, both 291 (SYD-SIN) and 295 (SYD-BKK) are in the schedule through end of NW25/26 (end of March 2026) at which point both aircraft are due to revert to a dry lease operated by QF. Even if the wet lease is reduced to one aircraft, word on the street is that one will revert to a dry lease operated by QF earlier. In fact, QF are trying to increase the number of Finnair A330 they take on the dry lease.

Some of the reporting on it seems to be Finnair playing hardball with the pilots union rather than definitive action in September. Suspect some of the reporting is jumping the gun.

 

[Himeno]

Isn't it now (or becoming in Sept 2025) a singular plane lease, after the other one was terminated recently.

It doesn't seem clear from current reporting if this reduction in the wet lease flying will also result in a reduction of one aircraft for the dry lease.
The date that Finnair has given to start furloughing flight crew matches the date that the lease is due to become dry.

 

[elanshin]

It doesn't seem clear from current reporting if this reduction in the wet lease flying will also result in a reduction of one aircraft for the dry lease.
The date that Finnair has given to start furloughing flight crew matches the date that the lease is due to become dry.

Whilst that's true, given that there's reports of Qantas trying to get the other 6 AY a330s i'd be surprised if QF doesn't take both currently into dry lease.

 

[bjm76]

Whilst that's true, given that there's reports of Qantas trying to get the other 6 AY a330s i'd be surprised if QF doesn't take both currently into dry lease.

Thats really interesting, do we know how credible this is?

 

[evanb]

Thats really interesting, do we know how credible this is?

It's pretty credible, however important to seperate what Qantas would like versus what Finnair are interested in.

 

[PeterA]

My QF292 on June 8th is now QF82. Bit of a pity as I was looking forward to trying out the Finnair business seats

 

[FenderQF]

My June 3 flight swapped to QF metal.. having booked the bassinet on AY, for QF in row 1 is it best to sit behind or the other side of the aisle when travelling as a couple + baby?

 

[dairyfloss]

My June 3 flight swapped to QF metal.. having booked the bassinet on AY, for QF in row 1 is it best to sit behind or the other side of the aisle when travelling as a couple + baby?

I’d say ‘next to’ (which is actually slightly offset) in 1E or 1F, depending on which side the bassinet is on. Take a look at the AeroLOPA site for detailed QF seat map layouts, which should help somewhat

 

[moa999]

Post from Analytic Flying on X, that the Finnair 332 being replaced with an A380 from mid-June.

Big change with Qantas's Sydney-Singapore flights due to ongoing Finnair industrial action:
QF291/292 (Finnair operated) cancelled through 10/8; 1x/week (Th) remaining for positioning
Replaced with 6x/week QF81/82; big news is it'll be A380 5x/week from 16/6!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1927267958641881110

 

[elanshin]

Post from Analytic Flying on X, that the Finnair 332 being replaced with an A380 from mid-June.

Big change with Qantas's Sydney-Singapore flights due to ongoing Finnair industrial action:
QF291/292 (Finnair operated) cancelled through 10/8; 1x/week (Th) remaining for positioning
Replaced with 6x/week QF81/82; big news is it'll be A380 5x/week from 16/6!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1927267958641881110

Interesting they chose Sydney over Melbourne.

 

[evanb]

Interesting they chose Sydney over Melbourne.

This might explain why:

Why Qantas can't just switch Melbourne twice daily A330 to once daily A380?

In the ongoing debate of where Qantas is likely to schedule the three returning A380s over the coming year, several followers on social media have proposed the idea that Qantas could consolidate their two daily Melbourne-Singapore A330 flights into a single A380 operated flight.

www.analyticflying.com

 

[MELso]

This might explain why:

Why Qantas can't just switch Melbourne twice daily A330 to once daily A380?

In the ongoing debate of where Qantas is likely to schedule the three returning A380s over the coming year, several followers on social media have proposed the idea that Qantas could consolidate their two daily Melbourne-Singapore A330 flights into a single A380 operated flight.

www.analyticflying.com

That article assumes that Qantas couldn't re-time flights. I'm not familiar with the nuances of route planning, but if they were to switch to an A380, couldn't they re-time QF35 and 36 to meet the QF1 and 2 schedule (e.g. leave MEL at 14.00, arriving SIN ~20.00, and leaving SIN 21.30 arriving ~6.30+1 with ~3 hour layovers in SIN) while scrapping QF37 and 38?

 

[Aeryn]

Putting another A380 out SYD sounds great to me. The business class seat on a QF A380 is so much more comfortable than the horrible no recline AY business class seat.

The AY seat is imo only suitable for short day flights, it is horrible if you want to sleep as the mattress topper doesn't attach, the seat belt retracts tight making it difficult to roll-over, the angle favours sleeping only on one side and it is very hard for anyone with knee or back issues to return to seated position with nothing to get purchase on whilst trying to crawl out of the foot well.

 

[evanb]

That article assumes that Qantas couldn't re-time flights. I'm not familiar with the nuances of route planning, but if they were to switch to an A380, couldn't they re-time QF35 and 36 to meet the QF1 and 2 schedule (e.g. leave MEL at 14.00, arriving SIN ~20.00, and leaving SIN 21.30 arriving ~6.30+1 with ~3 hour layovers in SIN) while scrapping QF37 and 38?

They could retime it but there's some big opportunity costs in that optimising a single A380 rotation for connections to/from QF1/2 requires two aircraft rather than one, burning utilisation. This is because an optimised arrival on MEL-SIN would be around 9-10pm and an optimal departure on SIN-MEL would be 7-8pm (before MEL-SIN arrives).

The second opportunity cost is loosing regional connections on Jetstar that are timed to connect from this arrival bank (5-6pm), and similarly loosing the inbound regional connections to QF's earlier return departure bank.