Why doesn't qantas get a 747-8 since they are retiring their 747-400 and there isn't a big production line for the aircraft

Why doesn't qantas get a 747-8 since they are retiring their 747-400 and there isn't a big production line for the aircraft

They consider the B787 and A380 more fuel efficient and able to serve its routes better.  There are many routes which QF has to use the B747 currently to make those destinations eg.  JNB.  On this route,  at the moment they have no choice but to operate a B747, as a A330 would not make the distance and/or the A380 would be loss making.  The proposed B787 would enable more efficient flying, allow better yields and open up new routes, which the B747-8 would not be able to do.

I understand what you mean by using 744's to places like JNB and SCL. But I don't think the A388 on QF63/64 (JNB) would be loss making. Having been on that route several times (not in peak season) the plane was almost full on all flights with less then a dozen spare seats in economy. I reckon they should upgrade it to a A388 and use the 744 permantley on the SYD-HKG route.

Why doesn't Qantas buy back all it's 747-200s? #throwback #retroroo #avgeek

its* omg

IMHO 747-8 not as popular as A380 because Boeing launched it little bit late. In fact they on par from economy point of view and I would prefer 747-8 anytime becuse it looks soooooo classy. A380 IMHO plainly ugly. Yep, YMMV.

Hi Michael, it's for the same reason other airlines have passed on the 748. Two engine aircraft are just much more fuel efficient to four engine aircraft now, and airlines are following that trend to the exclusion of the 748 is a decent aircraft, but one that'll end up unloved by airline purchasing departments (only Lufthansa and just recently Korean I think are flying them).

QF aren't retiring all 747-400s, the 9 that have been refurbished stay for some time yet.  These are between 12 and 16 years old, so quite a bit younger than VH-OJA that took its last flight yesterday.  The 747-800 is too close in size to the A380 for QF.  It would be more likely that they would get more A380s, also not a big backlog there.  If they want to expand the US and Europe services they need 777s, not 789s which are only just bigger than an A330.

Why would they need 777s for US and Europe markets? If they had the demand for 777 they would have bought them years ago.  I think 789 are a good fit for QF as they can be interchanged from international and domestic operations.  If QF wanted aircraft to replace 747 then at this stage they would just get more A380s. Currently they haven't indicated an interest to replace 747 with a new type of aircraft.  Personally I think A350-1000 makes more sense for QF than 777 as it is the right fit for QF international and it shares cockpit commonality with A380 which saves costs for QF.

If they wanted to keep flying to SCL and JNB but thought that the 380 and 748 have too many seats, maybe they could buy a few 340s and do them up. The fuel costs might not be great, but they're likely to be available at a rather low unit price so it could even out.

My observation that all positive comments toward 747 attract negative marks. What the fa... , sorry, kindergarten? You may like something or dislike it, but how comment became more or less valid because of this? You may put even more minuses to this post especially considering that I hate automatic transmissions and smartphones that majority loves. LOL!!!

intersting point here, i think persoanlly the 747-8 would do alot better than the A380. For certain longer routes they fly better than the A380 in terms of fuel and also effiency. Im not saying they are bad planes the A380 but they work beautifully on certain routes. A380 are good for routes like LHR via dubai due to slot restricted. If in this case A380 would do ok as they have two flights to LHR. But ouside that like US flights or some asian flights the 747-8 would do better. Plus the training and conversion from the 747-400 to the 747-8 is 5 day CCQ(cross crew qualification). More logical for guys who has experience on the 747-400 to convert to 747-8. Plus only minor changes like size and length. Plus upgraded system thats about it. But A380 or other types is around 2 months training.

A Qantas FA told me that OJM is retiring next saturday for SFO and then Victoreville 

I was of the understanding that JNB and SCL are using 747's because CASA won't certify ETOPS long enough to make it viable on a twin.