Qantas has revealed details of an upgrade it is making to Economy seats in some of its A330 fleet. The airline is revamping 10 of its A330-200 fleet, which are used on international flights to destinations such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo.
The upgrade to the fleet will be made at Qantas’ Brisbane maintenance facility from mid-2025. The first of the revamped A330s will take to the skies by the end of the year. Following that, the refurbishment program will continue over 2026.
It’s worth noting that this is only a portion of the A330s that Qantas currently operate. Qantas will retire most of the other A330s as they take delivery of new 787 and A350 aircraft. Consequently, the updated aircraft will be among the last A330s to be retired.
The new seats
The airline is fitting the same seats that will feature on the Project Sunrise fleet of A350s. They have designed these seats with comfort in mind, including a foot net and improved lumbar support.
Other big improvements for the seats include:
- a new 4K OLED 13.3” entertainment touchscreens with the latest generation user interface. This makes them 20 per cent larger than the existing screen,
- A USB-C port capable of fast charging devices such as phones and tablets,
- Bluetooth audio connectivity which will allow passengers in Economy to use their own headphones.
The rest of the cabin
It’s not just the seats – other aspects of the cabin are getting a refresh as well. This will include the aircraft getting new carpets and curtains. In addition, new mood lighting will be installed.
Business
So, what is happening at the front of the plane? Well, not much. The current Business Suites will remain in place. The justification that Qantas has given is that these seats have received positive feedback from customers, In addition, there’s probably not that many substantially better Business seats available for the A330. That said, based on the renders there appear to be a few tweaks to the seat. For example, there appears to be new seat covers, and a new reading light.
It would be an interesting turn of events if Economy ended up with Bluetooth audio and USB-C charging without these changes being made in Business.
In describing the refresh, Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said:
We’ve used our fleet renewal program to completely rethink the inflight experience and these cabin upgrades mean we can bring next-generation features and designs to our existing aircraft.
Customers can look forward to brand new Economy seats that have been specially created to maximise comfort and provide features that our customers want for international travel. They’re the same seats that will feature on our ultra long haul A350-1000ULR aircraft, so it will be a preview of the Project Sunrise flying experience.