QANTAS Decks Out its Decade-Old A380s

Qantas has just revealed a revamped experience coming to its fleet Airbus A380 aircraft.

The multimillion-dollar upgrade of 12 aircraft includes new seating across expanded Business and Premium Economy cabins, and a refresh of the aircraft’s First and Economy seating. The on-board lounge has also been redesigned.

Each aircraft takes approximately eight weeks to upgrade. Take a peek at the results below.

Smarter use of space has created an all premium class upper deck (now occupied by Business and Premium Economy) and an expanded on-board lounge. There are now 30 fewer Economy seats and an increase in premium seating by 27 per cent.

Expanded upper deck lounge area.

Download a fact sheet here > Upgraded-Qantas-A380-factsheet

“We think the re-fit looks fabulous. Not just in terms of hard product, but the increase in premium capacity is a move our clients will love”, said The Travel Authority Group’s Managing Director, Peter Hosper.

Expanded Qantas Premium Economy cabin.

The capacity of Qantas A380s after the upgrade will be: 14 First Suites (unchanged), 70 Business Suites (up by six), 60 Premium Economy (up by 25) and 341 Economy (down by 30) for a total of 485 passengers (up by one).

Qantas business class on the A380.

Key elements of the upgrade include:

Introduction of the Qantas Business Suite, replacing the previous Skybeds, in a 1:2:1 configuration that now gives aisle access to every passenger.
Installation of the new Premium Economy seat (first debuted on the Qantas Dreamliner) and increasing the number of seats from 35 to 60.
A larger on-board lounge space with seating for up to 10 Business and First passengers.
An update to the 14 First Class Suites with new contoured cushioning, seat finishes and a larger, higher resolution entertainment screen.
A new colour palette for the Economy cabin and improved in-flight entertainment.

Re-vamped Qantas First Class on the A380.

The first reconfigured aircraft, VH-OQK, will operate as QF2 from London to Sydney via Singapore, arriving in Australia on Wednesday 2 October.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said, “Working with Airbus, we’ve been able to use the cabin space more efficiently and improve the economics of the aircraft while also providing a better experience in every part of the aircraft.