The arrival of a sixth converted Airbus A321 freighter has given Qantas more freighter services to New Zealand and Hong Kong as the Australian airline moves to an all-Airbus freighter fleet.
Qantas Freight is now flying to Hong Kong three times a week using an A330-200 converted freighter, after adding a weekly service from Perth to Hong Kong for the first time to cater for shipments from Western Australia. The flight is in addition to the existing twice-weekly service between Sydney and Hong Kong, according to a new flight schedule published last week.
Shippers also have more choice to move products between Australia and New Zealand with five weekly services from Sydney to Christchurch via Auckland. Four of the flights are operated with standard-size A321s, including a new weekend service. Qantas also operates a weekly service on the route with an A330 to support customers with larger shipments.
On Tuesday, Qantas Freight will add Melbourne as a destination to its regional Oceania freighter service to provide more import/export services from South Australia to New Zealand. The addition of the A321 freighter frees up Qantas to deploy the A330 on the Hong Kong route, spokesman Oliver Craven-McLeay explained in an email.
“The demand for freight services is increasing, especially in Asia, and we are looking at different options to
“We are expanding our A330 freighter service to more locations in Asia as we look to meet this demand now and in the future,” Igor Kwiatkowski, executive manager for Qantas Freight, said in a statement. “These changes provide greater options for freight customers in Australia, New Zealand and Asia through increased service frequency and enhanced capacity in our Airbus fleet.”
Qantas has been phasing out older Boeing freighters this year in favor of a younger Airbus fleet. The last Boeing 767-300, a medium widebody in the same category as the A330, last flew for Qantas Freight in May. The freighter unit retired its last Boeing 737 converted freighter in August, Craven-McLeay confirmed. The airline until recently operated five 737-300/400 freighters.
Qantas Freight produced the world’s first-ever A321 passenger-to-freighter in October 2020. The company plans to double its A321 fleet to 12 aircraft in the coming years to capitalize on growth in e-commerce shipments. Several of the aircraft, which are being manufactured by a conversion specialist affiliated with Airbus, will be flown under contract to Australia Post.
The two A330-200 freighters in the fleet are former Qantas passenger aircraft that were converted last year to carry freight containers.
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