A320neo vs 737 MAX - Qantas Order Decision

foreign closer to 27 000 subscribers so if you haven't already I'd really appreciate it if you did subscribe to support the channel so the A320 Neo and the 737 Max while very different aircraft do share similarities and are often pitted against each other as the two aircraft are narrow body planes they're equally popular among customers and play a significant role not just in the industry but at the backbone of many airlines fleets so when it comes time to replace aging narrow body aircraft these two types often mentioned are often the two available options at least if you're after a like-for-like replacement and in most cases airlines that commit to the max or Neo have at some point in their history flown the predecessors it'll be the mission of the respective aircraft manufacturer that saw one of their older types fly with that airline to ensure that they can keep the relationship running and have the airline commit to to their newer model so when Qantas launched project Winton a project intended to lay out the groundwork and eventually Source a replacement for their aging narrow body Fleet including notably the 737 alongside the 717 there was much discussion around which direction the company would head and also how important of a contract it would be for the manufacturer that won it at the time of recording Qantas operates a fleet of in-service 74 737 800s and as such it is their largest currently active Fleet type by some margin many believed the 737 Max would be a great fit when the need for a replacement was outlined however there's much more to it to explore Qantas launched project Winton officially in 2021 towards the back end actually however the reality is that discussion over a replacement has taken place long before that point outlined in 2021 at least formally the goal was to find a replacement for the 737s and 717s the deadline was a Year's end this gave Qantas a window of around three months to come to a decision and formally place an order as such requests for proposals were put forward giving Qantas the opportunity to study the available options shortlisted Replacements at the time included the a220 and A320 Neo from Airbus the 737 Max from Boeing and lastly the e195e2 from Embraer all equally in some manner you could argue would benefit the Qantas group and fun fact about project Winton well it was named after the birthplace of Qantas but that's a story for another day the flag carrier said that a renewal was part of a broader overhaul of the group and would see deliveries stretch across a 10-year period in 2021 they outlined the 2023 Financial year as the point where they'd looked to welcome the first delivery which is essentially now so really no time could be wasted as delivery slots continue to be claimed by other companies and the available time for deliveries became smaller and smaller especially as Qantas wanted the types so soon after placing the original commitment a handful of months later December to be in fact qantas's decision was made and they selected the Airbus a220 to replace their Boeing 717 Fleet and the A320 Neo family to support the future of their domestic operations and subsequently replaced the 737 NGS a commitment that meant they would switch to Airbus in favor of Boeing for these narrow body planes at the time this was labeled a pretty big blow to Boeing who would put their own 737 Max up to Qantas as an available option but they passed and we know that Qantas is a very long time customer with Boeing and are pretty close to them that's why such a decision to switch to the European plane maker was labeled so big why the A320 Neo well the appeal was with other members of the Qantas group as well while Qantas was part of the main commitment they really wanted to revolutionize other areas of their business 2 including its low-cost arm Jetstar with A320 neojets as such they could use the new substantial order to go with previous commitments and the advantage being well they could spread deliveries across multiple Airlines switch out variants and just have a lot of flexibility that maybe they wouldn't have if they went elsewhere no doubt as well Qantas secured a hefty discount with such a deal while never publicly disclosed you should know that no order is ever actually completed at list price value all the list price does is just provide us an indication of the underlying value substantial discounts are always handed down to customers some can be larger than others factors such as ongoing relationship potentially the amount of units ordered and a whole lot more can be key tipping points when two types pitted against each other Qantas has selected the a321 XLR which boasts a substantial range boost and for their narrow body Fleet seems to be a solution to other options that will benefit them the most it does mean that new city pairings are possible especially with a focused in Southeast Asia and these Jets can be placed in maybe secondary cities within Australia rather than just Melbourne and Sydney that is the Fantastic benefit when it comes to International networks say from Perth Adelaide and or Brisbane the acquisition of the a220 also gives Qantas massive amounts of flexibility for their Qantas link brand with regional operations now being transformed with more efficient and higher capacity operations it's worth noting the a220s also come with a substantial range increase so new city pairings are also possible fuel savings as you would expect will be considerable too and while pitted against the e195 series which personally I must say I do enjoy it does seem like a logical choice to pair where the a220 with that existing 320 Neo family commitment just for Fleet continuity purposes after this commitment there were serious question marks over the max it's something you're always going to expect with the same discussion people saying that the plane is a tired design and maybe Boeing should be putting more effort into creating a clean sheet that better epitomizes the future whether you agree or not well you can let me know Down Below in the comments but with that being said the overall reality from this deal going through was just how much flexibility and potential Airbus in this situation could provide Qantas with their planes that Boeing just couldn't with four base variants to the max family Airbus has utilized the acquisition of the a220 back in 2019 since to its advantage and while it deals with competition from Embraer largely Boeing does not have something that can compare and customers eyes well enough so if you say that that existing airline has a strong relationship with Airbus and they're looking for a plane similar to that of the a220 well then Airbus pretty much has that Under Wraps the ever-expanding A320 Neo family especially with the LR and XLR in the 321 part is a commanding decision from the European plane maker as they address Boeing's lack of options in that space Airbus releases these jets with the sole intention of filling more niches that customers are present in as Boeing awaits the 2030s for their next clean sheep plane it means Airbus has free reign and it makes orders like these very intriguing to better understand and at the end of the day for an airline like Qantas if they can achieve flexibility potential and have a great delivery slot and pricing then they're most likely going to head the way where all of those things are and in this situation it was without us no doubt a shame for Aviation enthusiasts that do enjoy the 737 Max having flown on it myself I must say the ride comfort factor is definitely there and I've always enjoyed flying the type that being said we'll welcome the first Airbus a220 to Australian Shores with Qantas later this year and what it will do is Kickstart deliveries for project Winton what are your thoughts do you believe Qantas made the right decision or should have they selected the 737 Max let me know thank you very much for watching and your support take care and be safe and I'll see you next time [Music] foreign foreign foreign

Channel: GlobeTrotting at Dj's Aviation

Views: 96,633

Keywords: aviation, airline, airport, globetrotting, dj's aviation, avgeek, airbus, boeing, daily dose of aviation, aviation analysis, aircraft analysis, planespotting, planes, aircraft

Id: uHUXzXCrQIs

Length: 9min 10sec (550 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 19 2023