"Qantas Opts For Airbus Super Jumbo - Report"

Friday, November 3, 2000

Qantas Opts For Airbus Super Jumbo - Report
Airwise


Australia's Qantas Airways will buy 12 A3XX superjumbos and six A330-200
wide-body airliners from European plane maker Airbus Industrie, France Info
radio reported on Wednesday.

Valuing the order at almost USD$4 billion, the broadcaster said Qantas would
take options on a further six A3XXs, the 555-seater that Airbus plans to
launch early next year.

Industry weekly Flight International reported three weeks ago that Qantas
was considering an order for 12 A3XXs and taking options on six.

If Qantas does place such an order, Airbus will have signed preliminary
agreements to supply 44 A3XXs.

Airbus recently said it wants 50 orders before it commits the plane to
production, compared with its earlier target of "40 to 50".

Qantas has been one of the most loyal customers of Airbus rival Boeing, with
a mainline fleet composed entirely of the US company's products.

The Australian airline is an especially heavy user of Boeing's 747, the
plane that Airbus aims to eclipse with the A3XX.

In the 1980s, when it had no domestic operations, Qantas became the only
airline to operate nothing but 747s.

In the category of smaller wide-body planes, Qantas has a long-standing
requirement for 300-seat aircraft.

An order for either A330-300s or Boeing 777s has been expected but not one
for A330-200s, which seat about 250 and are about the same size as the
767-300s that Qantas already operates.

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