Qantas said today it would acquire five additional two-class Boeing 737-800s for its domestic operations. The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Geoff Dixon, said the new aircraft would increase the airline’s 737-800 fleet to 33 by the end of 2005.

“The acquisition of these five aircraft continues our strategy of growing the two-class Boeing 737-800 Qantas domestic fleet,” Mr Dixon said.

“Qantas has taken delivery of 21 737-800s since February 2002 and another two will be delivered in the middle of this year. A further ten 737-800s will join the fleet between December 2004 and December 2005.

“These new 737-800s are more fuel efficient and cost effective than the 737-300s that we are in the process of retiring from the fleet, as well as offering more spacious cabins.

“By building this large fleet of modern 737-800s, we are offering our customers a better product as well as delivering improvements to aircraft utilisation, reliability and on-time performance.”

Mr Dixon said the cost of acquiring the five new aircraft was included in the company’s recent A$6.7 billion (S$8.46) billion capital expenditure forecast for the three years to June 2006.

He said the acquisition of the five new aircraft highlighted Qantas’ ongoing and substantial investment in its domestic product, both in the air and on the ground.

He said Qantas was also continuing to grow its domestic network, recently announcing the addition of a number of new routes including Sydney-Broome, Perth-Cairns, Perth-Canberra and Melbourne-Ayers Rock.
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