Qantas Brings A380 Retirement Forward Four Years, Eyes More A350s and 787s

SYDNEY — Qantas Airways (QF) will begin retiring its 10 Airbus A380s in calendar year 2028, bringing the start of the program forward by roughly four years as it prepares to introduce more Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s.

The change is more than a routine fleet phaseout. In 2023, Qantas said its A380s would be replaced by Airbus A350s from about FY32. Its FY26 results release now says the A380 fleet will be gradually phased out from calendar year 2028, after the first Project Sunrise A350-1000ULR is due to arrive in April 2027.

Qantas has not announced which route or aircraft will leave the fleet first. That means it is too early to conclude whether Sydney (SYD)–Los Angeles (LAX), Sydney–Singapore (SIN)–London Heathrow (LHR), or another A380 market will be first to change. The airline says its next-generation widebodies will be able to operate every route on its current international network and open new ones, but that is a fleet-capability statement, not a published retirement timetable.

Replacement Capacity Is Still Under Discussion

The Group already has 12 firm Airbus A350 orders and 12 firm Boeing 787 orders for Qantas International, separate from the 12 A350-1000ULRs ordered for Project Sunrise. The first additional 787 is scheduled to arrive in FY28.

Qantas is also in discussions with Airbus and Boeing about converting around 20 existing purchase-right options into firm orders from 2030. Those are not orders yet, and Qantas has not said how many would be A350s or 787s. The distinction matters: a purchase right gives the airline flexibility to buy aircraft later; it does not itself commit either Qantas or the manufacturer to a delivery.

The company’s August 2023 fleet plan had already paired A350s with eventual A380 replacement. The new timeline makes the uncommitted options more consequential. They could provide additional capacity as the four-engine fleet exits, but the final mix, delivery positions, and configuration have not been disclosed.

Why the A380 Timeline Moved

Qantas's FY26 annual report says A380 production has ended and operating and maintenance costs are rising. Its investor presentation also says the Middle East conflict raised fuel costs disproportionately for the A380 fleet and identifies higher operating costs on legacy A330 and A380 aircraft as part of its international cost base.

That makes fleet economics central to the decision. A newer twin-engine widebody can preserve long-haul capability with a different cost and capacity profile, while also giving Qantas more flexibility to adjust aircraft size by route. Qantas has not, however, published a route-by-route comparison, an A380 maintenance-cost figure, or a claim that component availability is driving the 2028 start.

The shift comes after the final A380 returned to service during FY26, which Qantas said helped it optimize the network when demand moved away from the Middle East. The carrier is therefore accelerating retirement of aircraft it still used recently for network flexibility, rather than removing an idle fleet.

Profit Fell as Middle East Disruption Raised Costs

The fleet announcement accompanied Qantas’s FY26 financial result. The Group reported underlying profit before tax of A$2.06bn, A$330m lower than FY25, and statutory profit after tax of A$1.29bn.

Qantas put the Middle East disruption’s net impact on pre-tax profit at A$420m. Its fuel bill rose by A$610m in the second half, though hedging, fare adjustments, capacity changes, and other mitigations reduced the net earnings impact. The company redeployed aircraft to add nearly 16,000 seats to and from Europe in the fourth quarter as travelers avoided the Middle East.

Project Sunrise remains a parallel part of the international-fleet transition, not an A380 replacement program on its own. Qantas expects its first specially configured A350-1000ULR in April 2027 and plans to start nonstop Sydney–London service in October 2027. Airways previously examined the engineering work behind the Project Sunrise A350-1000ULR, including its additional fuel capacity and 238-seat cabin.

For passengers, the immediate change is limited: Qantas has set a fleet direction, not a published route-withdrawal schedule. The next meaningful update will be the first firm conversion of the 20 purchase-right options and a route plan that shows how Qantas intends to replace both the A380’s seats and its premium-cabin product.