Qantas CEO unveils largest fleet renewal in history
Qantas is poised to launch its most ambitious transformation yet, with billions to be spent on new aircraft across its entire fleet.
Developing a sustainable aviation fuel industry in Australia would be in the “national interest” and could create more than 13,000 jobs, according to Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson.
Ms Hudson says that Qantas – which spends $5bn a year on fuel - believed Australia was well placed to develop its own local sustainable aviation fuel resource. But ongoing government support would be crucial to make the fuel commercially viable.
“We think there is a great opportunity to work with the Australian government to find more of those opportunities and really set a course to create a new industry of sustainable aviation fuel in Australia,” the CEO said, citing a fledgling North Queensland operation turning sugar cane by-product into ethanol as the basis for aviation fuel.
“We are a country that should be able to lead technically in this space because we’ve got significant agriculture and feedstock for such an industry which could create economic growth and 13,000 more jobs.
“If we think about fuel and fuel security, we think there is a national interest that could come from that as well. These things are never easy, it is new technology and the government have taken really positive steps so far on this journey and we are looking forward to continuing to work with them.”
It was revealed in September that after years of lobbying by the aviation industry, the federal government announced it would contribute $1.1bn to power the production of “greener” fuel that will help airlines reduce their carbon footprint.
Meanwhile, Ms Hudson confirmed Qantas was on track with its plans to complete a historic fleet renewal, including the ambitious Project Sunrise, enabling direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to New York and London from next year using the Airbus A350-1000.
“The fleet renewal that is underway is the largest renewal we have ever done in our history,” Ms Hudson said.
“We are renewing the Jetstar fleet, we are renewing the domestic narrow-body fleet, we’re introducing the breakthrough Project Sunrise long-range aircraft next year. Then we will start to renew the international fleet from there.”
As Airbus builds the aircraft in Toulouse, the Australian-based Project Sunrise team busily preparing for the historic flights include fleet programs teams, flight planning, network, flight operations, cabin crew, operations centres, airports, lounges, engineering and operational readiness teams. All the aircraft, like the rest of the Qantas fleet, will carry Australian products and suppliers on board.
Ms Hudson, celebrating two years in the top job, says her team made a decision to have a laser-focus on the basics to turn the airline’s fortunes around.
“At the top of the list is on-time performance and reliability. Qantas Domestic is now back as being the most reliable, Jetstar has lifted materially and so has Qantas International.
“We have stabilised things and we’ve got our customer satisfaction and our performance back to a really good place, but what is really important looking forward is that we get this fleet renewal done.
“We hold the fact that Australians have pride in Qantas close to our heart, making Australians proud of Qantas is what we are really purposeful about.”
This article is part of the Back Australia series, which is supported by Australian Made, Harvey Norman, Westpac, Bunnings, Coles, TechnologyOne, REA Group, Cadbury, R.M.Williams, Qantas, Vodafone and BHP.
