Australian heart and soul

A month after receiving its first Airbus A380, Qantas put the aircraft into service on the Pacific route from Melbourne to Los Angeles on 20 October 2008.

In one giant kangaroo leap, the airline had introduced what it believed was a game changer aircraft into its schedule.

You can understand why Qantas thinks so. The A380 could almost have been designed just for Qantas. By delivering more people, more economically, in a more environmentally friendly way and with greater passenger comfort, the A380 is a welcome addition to the airline’s prime routes. These signature long-haul routes tend to be at slot restricted airports such as London Heathrow and Los Angeles. Here, additional frequency is not an option and so the ability to get more passengers taking off and landing in your existing prime time slots is a big advantage.

The Qantas aircraft is powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine, which is the market leader on the airframe, having been selected by ten of the 13 Airbus A380 operators and securing nearly a 60 per cent share of the firm and option orders.

For Rolls-Royce, the arrival of the Trent 900-powered A380 also marks the latest stage of a long and close relationship with the airline. Tony Davis, Regional Director for Rolls-Royce in Australia said: ‘Qantas is an iconic carrier. Almost 30 years ago the first Rolls-Royce powered Boeing 747 arrived and they were to become the backbone of the Qantas long-haul fleet. The A380 is the successor to the 747 in the Qantas stable and if we are to have the same close relationship going forward then this new long-haul aircraft and its Trent 900 engine are central to the partnership.’

Qantas has the largest single airline order with Boeing for 787s and the second largest A380 order in place with Airbus.

The airline currently operates a fleet of 44 Rolls-Royce powered aircraft, the latest of which to arrive is the new Trent 900-powered A380. The airline has 20 Trent-powered A380s on order and has signed a TotalCare agreement with Rolls-Royce for the management of the Trent 900s in the fleet.