Qantas to upgrade Boeing 767s with refresh of seats, interiors

Handing out rolls of aricraft-grade to passengers as they boarded the plane to stop the plastic panelling falling around the place must have been getting expensive!

One wonders how much money Qantas is prepared to spend upgrading it's old, fuel-inefficient aircraft while hoping for a miracle to turn-around the performance of its international business.

And yet Jetstar are the first to get the B787's in the group. 

Most people wouldn't keep a car for 20 years let alone a plane flying as long as these work horses have.

Once again, Qantas = rock vs hard place... no easy solutions until the 787s arrive, even though it's Jetstar which gets these first, but will let Qantas take the JQ A330s and retire these 767s. But as many before have argued, why on earth is JQ getting the 787s before QF? If Qantas could stick a bunch of 787s onto the triangle and especially east-west routes they'd surely win a MAJOR public relations coup AND drag in the customers AND get much greater fuel efficiency into the bargain.

So which 767's are they refreshing? the photos make it look very cramped. Is it just the 2-2-2 767's being updated? the 1-2-2 across 767's already have more space than what is shown here. Agreed on the 787's. Qantas need to lift their game. It took Virgin with a 2-2-2 A330 to embarrass QF into dropping the middle seat on their 2-3-3 A330's - what an miserable experience that was in the middle seat overnight Perth to Sydney, and at an outrageous price. I have had good experience with QF in business internationally, especially the A380 but domestically they overcharge and under deliver. I don't care if it's an old 767 - just winch the seats apart a bit and give us some space for the $$$

sorry, that is 2-3-2 A330's...getting too excited

C'mon Qantas! Why are you upgrading aircraft? Who wants to see old aircraft? I understand that they will feature a new livery but the aircraft is fuel in-efficient. I understand that Jetstar will get 787s and pass their A330s to Qantas who will retire their refitted 767s. I have to admit their refit looks really nice from the PR shots and I wouldn't disagree that it is a "contemporary design" but shouldn't we keep them a year or two rather than wasting money on this. I haven't seen these seats on any Qantas aircraft before, so I hope this will be good.

Hrmm... this so called contemporary design looks a little too close to Jetstars A330's if you ask me...

Until the 787s arrive, this is the best that can be done and it is surely a good move for passengers. The iPad programme is a major step in the right direction even without the refurbs. The early 787s that where cancelled where likely the ones chosen due to them being the ones that are overweight and under-spec compared to LN40+ or so. 

My guess is Allan Joyce is giving the new 787s to Jestar to entice customers over and allow Qantas to be run into the ground and dismantle it. Piece by slow painful piece.

What happened to a consistent domestic product? Red leather in business class seatback scrreens like on the latest 738s BSI?

I really hope the 767's that service the Honolulu route are going to get an upgrade first.  For a 10 hour flight, that product is really inferior and below par especially for Business Class which is always full.

We have had Business Class clients cancel their QF flights when they saw on the itinerary it was operated by a B767.  Hawaiian now have the best non-stop hard product from Sydney to Honolulu. 

I don't think you have to worry about 767's to HNL this route is going! JQ will take over all HNL flights.

It is pity that Joyce doesn't understand how a premium carrier works, you need to invest in the product and stop talking the International division down all the time.

Ironically most of the a380 design, airport upgrades, including the F lounges was done under Borghetti’s watch and while Joyce and his team continue to waste money on cosmetic things QF will continue to drift along and lose money.

 I am a QF platinum FF and obviously very sad with some of the mooted changes a foot; cancelling of FRA route, new code share partners, you can imagine how you will be treated by EK as a QF FF!  

While no one can expect an airline to operate a route that is not profitable, you would have thought that they would have looked at their fleet renewal programme much earlier and maybe some of these changes would not be happening.

I still thing the QF staff are great and frankly don’t know how they keep uo a smile and positive attitude, I have 2 more Mel/Fra J flights booked on QF this year but guess will  I will have to look at an alternate carrier.

The pattern on those curtains and the divider panels is disgusting. That'll become dated in 5 mins flat.

@John - those Airfleets dates are the delivery dates. To see the age of the aircraft you need to click the Registration link. Do this & you'll find the 767s are between 6.6 & 22.5 years old 

Absolutely sure this isn't JQ? :D

Yea it looks a bit orange to me maybe that's part of the game plan to slowly intergrate the fleet. JQ/QF

Time to switch all 50 staff to Virgin. The 767 planes should have been sold for scrap or better still pushed to Jet Star and the A330's that Qantas lease to Jet Star could be used on the right side of the fence.

I've just flown Sydney to Perth on one of these upgraded 767's.  The economy class seats are terrible, they're definitely smaller and have less room than the older versions (I travel with the same person regularly and we were crammed this flight).  I had to use my left hand to eat my meal (I'm right handed) as I couldn't use the right due to lack of space.  I also had to get up and walk around several times due to a sore back (first time in twenty years of regular flying).  The iPad things are great but you can't hear due to the cheap ear buds and engine noise.  Combined that with no more ice cream and paper cups for coffee and I give Qantas a 1 out of 10 for this idea.