Qantas switches domestic fleet to Airbus in blow to Boeing

Australia's national airline is the latest to join the pandemic-inspired race for efficient medium-haul jets

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said he was not concerned that his airline would be overly reliant on Airbus.

Qantas Airways has selected Airbus as the preferred supplier to replace its domestic fleet, switching from Boeing in a major win for the European planemaker that also triggered an upheaval in engine supplies.

The Australian national airline, led by Dubliner Alan Joyce, will buy 40 Airbus jets with a list price of at least $4.6bn (€4.06bn) before discounts, with options to buy an additional 94 aircraft over more than a decade. The planes replace Qantas’s ageing fleet of almost 100 Boeing 737s and 717s — some of them about 20 years old — that still serve as the airline’s domestic workhorses.