Qantas and Jetstar change 787 strategy to support Asian growth and unit cost improvement

The continuous high-growth in Asia as well as opportunities to achieve better unit costs are the drivers behind a broad change of strategy for how the Qantas Group will deploy the B787-8 and B787-9 across its Qantas and Jetstar brands. Rather than have B787-9s replace Jetstar's B787-8s, which would have been sent to Qantas for domestic use, Jetstar will keep the B787-8 and operate it alongside the B787-9. Qantas will further reap the B787's efficiency by deploying the aircraft almost entirely on international routes, leaving domestic routes to A330s and B737s.

Jetstar will be able to better match capacity with demand by operating the smaller 300-seat B787-8, whereas its low-cost long-haul pan-Asian competitors AirAsia X and Scoot will primarily operate 370-seat aircraft, equivalent to the B787-9. Keeping the B787-8 will allow Jetstar to fit out the aircraft to its specification rather than a common spec Qantas could operate with a simple change in seat covers. This has implications for seating density, type of seat and whether or not to install a bulky and expensive in-flight entertainment (IFE) system, which affects unit costs.