Joyce Says The 12 It Operates Are Sufficient For Its Needs

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said Friday at an airline conference in Brisbane, Australia that the airline does not intend to take delivery of the remaining eight A380 superjumbo jets it has on order.

The Washington Post reports that Joyce said that the 12 A380s it is currently operating are sufficient to meet its passenger demand. "Our intention is that we're not taking those aircraft," he is quoted as saying.

Qantas was one of the first operators of the double-decker airliners that typically seat 525 passengers. The Qantas aircraft are configured with 484 seats. Joyce had initially pushed back delivery of the planes by two years, and now joins other customers such as Virgin Atlantic that have not specifically cancelled their orders, but have no plans to take delivery of the airplanes.

Qantas has shifted its focus on shorter-haul routes between smaller cities rather than carrying large numbers of passengers between larger hubs.

Airbus sharply cut production of the A380 last month, reducing the number of planes built per year to about 12 rather than the 30 it produced in recent years.

Currently, an order from Emirates accounts for about half the A380 backlog.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.qantas.com, www.airbus.com