These Are The Oldest Planes Flying For Qantas In 2024

Qantas Airways, which is an acronym of the airline’s original name, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, is the flag carrier of Australia, and excluding its subsidiaries (Jetstar Airways, QantasLink, and Qantas Freight), is currently home to a fleet of 122 Boeing and Airbus aircraft, according to Airfleets.net.

While the airline is patiently waiting for its delivery of the highly anticipated Airbus A321XLR, A350-1000 (destined for Project Sunrise), and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner (to replace the aging A330s), Simple Flying is digging into the data to analyze which planes are the oldest birds in the sky for the flying kangaroo.

Photo: Ryan Fletcher | Shutterstock

A330

Qantas currently operates two variants of the A330, including 14 of the A330-200 and 10 of the A330-300. Deployed on the majority of its routes to Asia, the A330 variants are the largest, by number, of its widebody fleet.

The first and oldest A330-300 currently in operation is VH-QPA, nicknamed Kununurra, which was delivered on October 31, 2003. At the time of publication, it was winging passengers between Sydney and Bangalore as QF67. At 20.3 years of age, it is configured with a two-class layout for 28 business and 269 economy class passengers.

VH-EBG, known as ‘Barossa Valley,’ is Qantas’ oldest A330-200. Delivered down under on December 14, 2007. The 16.1-year-old aircraft can seat up to 28 business and 243 economy class passengers. It most recently operated as QF769, touching down in Perth from Melbourne.

Photo: Phuong D. Nguyen | Shutterstock

A380

The first A380-800 touched down at Qantas in 2008, just in time for Christmas on December 17th. Named Hudson Fysh, an original pilot and founder of the red-tailed airline, the jumbo jet holds the registration VH-OQB. It is 15.5 years old and can comfortably seat up to 14 first, 64 business, 35 premium economy, and 371 economy class passengers. VH-OQB most recently flew as QF12, a nearly 15 hour direct trip from Los Angeles. Qantas has eight examples of the A380 in its fleet.

737

With 75 737-800s on Qantas’ books, it is by far the most popular aircraft type for the airline. Deployed across the airline’s domestic and short-haul international network, you can often find the aircraft type on the apron in Auckland, Ayers Rock, Bali, Nuku’alofa (Tonga), or Queenstown. The oldest plane currently in operation is VH-VXA, which holds the nickname ‘Broome.’ It was delivered to Qantas 22.1 years ago on January 14, 2002, and can seat 12 business and 162 economy class passengers. At the time of publication, the aircraft had just touched down after operating as QF770 from Perth to Melbourne. It is scheduled to take off for the sunny Gold Coast later today.

Related

Australian Flag Carrier: The Qantas Fleet In 2023

The airline has a large number of planes spread across a relatively small number of aircraft types.

787 Dreamliner

Down under, the Dreamliner is the youngest of all aircraft types in Qantas’ fleet, with its oldest of 14 787-9s being just 6.3 years of age. Delivered on October 4, 2017, the aircraft, nicknamed ‘Great Southern Land,’ holds the registration VH-ZNA and can seat up to 42 business, 28 premium economy, and 166 economy class passengers.

Photo: Lukas Wunderlich | Shutterstock

The plane is deployed on unique routes such as Perth to London or Sydney – Auckland – New York. At the time of writing, VH-ZNA was mid-flight between Johannesburg and Sydney, operating as QF64.