Qantas announces major cabin upgrade for A380 fleet

Qantas plans a major cabin upgrade for its fleet of 12 Airbus A380s to improve passenger comfort on long haul flights. The A380 project was announced with several other product investments at Qantas’ full year results on August 25. A multi-million dollar upgrade will see a change in the seat mix on the super jumbos to meet increased customer demand for premium cabins on flights to the US, Europe and Asia. Structural changes are focused on the upper deck where 30 Economy seats will be removed and some partitions and a crew workstation rearranged to use space more effectively. This allows for an additional six Business Class and 25 Premium Economy seats, increasing the overall seat count on the aircraft by one and increasing premium seating by 27%. Work on the first A380 is expected to begin in the second quarter of calendar year 2019. All 12 aircraft will be upgraded by the end of 2020. The design integration will be managed by Airbus.