Qantas to reconfigure A380s to redress international capacity

Qantas will reconfigure 12 A380s at Lufthansa Technik's new facility in Manila to increase seat density from 450 to 484. The refit is part of work to begin in Aug-2011 to boost the number of seats in its B747 and A380 aircraft to make them more profitable (The Australian, 09-Jun-2011). The work to change the cabins on nine B747-400s has been awarded to Qantas Engineering's Avalon facility after a competitive tender process involving Australian and overseas companies. Work is expected to take a year to complete. The changes can be broken down as follows:

• The current cabins will be stripped from the aircraft and replaced with new fittings, entertainment systems and seats;
• First-class cabins will be removed and the aircraft will be fitted with A380 seats in all cabins, including the fully lie-flat business seats;
• The older style and problem-prone entertainment systems will be replaced.

The changes will add 58 seats in business, 36 in premium economy and 270 in economy.