On May 25, 2021, Australian flag carrier Qantas announced that it would deploy its widebodies, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as well as the Airbus A330-200, on domestic routes.
The 236-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner would start operating up to nine Sydney to Perth flights per week, the airline wrote in a statement. The Qantas Dreamliner, having a range of 14,800 km, was usually used for long-haul international flights from Sydney to London.
Additionally, Qantas would use Airbus A330-200 widebody aircraft on domestic routes from Sydney to Darwin, Brisbane, and Perth. The Airbus A330-200 aircraft, having a range of up to 13,400 km, previously serviced international routes into Asia.
“We know how popular the 787s and A330s are with our customers on our international network and we think there will be a huge demand for the domestic flights these aircraft operate on, particularly frequent flyers looking to use points,” Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David said.
Qantas has a total of 11 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, two of which are currently parked in Australia, as per planespotters.net data. Additionally, out of the 28 Airbus A330-200 aircraft, 10 are currently parked due to the decreased demand for international air travel.
With additional aircraft and routes, Qantas expects to see domestic capacity exceed the pre-pandemic levels in the coming months.
“Our strategy of adding new domestic routes is generating revenue from our aircraft rather than leaving them on the ground. It means more work for our people and even more low fares for our customers,” David added.
