This is so that Finnair, a Helsinki-based airline, will own the Airbus A330 aircraft as well as its pilots and cabin staff.
Qantas said today that it would add a pair of Finnair A330s to its fleet for the next six years in response to rising international travel demand and a lack of available aircraft.
In accordance with a leasing agreement reached by the two Oneworld partners, these A330s “will operate selected Qantas flights between Sydney and Singapore from late October, and all flights between Sydney and Bangkok from late March 2024.”Qantas claims the change will free up its employees and planes to increase flying in other destinations. Additionally, there is still a lot of flying to be done, including an increase in flights to Tokyo and Hong Kong, the return of Shanghai, the almost daily operation of Melbourne-Delhi, and of course the mid-June start of Sydney-New York service.
There is still a mismatch between supply and demand for international travel, according to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, despite efforts made by airlines throughout the world to increase capacity to meet demand.
However, we have more seats for our passengers and more opportunities for Qantas crew as we boost our own flying thanks to more of our aircraft returning to the skies, new 787s joining our fleet, and our partnership with Finnair.For the first two and a half years of the Qantas-Finnair agreement, the Sydney-Singapore and Sydney-Bangkok Finnair A330 flights will be piloted and crewed by Finnair employees, however the in-flight food and beverages, facilities, and entertainment will continue to be provided by Qantas.
The Finnair A330s will continue to fly beginning in late 2025 and continuing for up to an extra three years through late 2028, but with Qantas cabin staff.
Finnair’s A330 business class will also come as a surprise to Qantas passengers since, despite the fact that every seat can be converted into a lie-flat bed, the cabin layout alternates between rows with a 2-2-1 and 1-2-1 configuration, meaning that not every passenger will have direct aisle access.
As a result, there are pairs of seats in the center and single seats down the right side of the aircraft, while every other seat on the left side is a “throne” with wide shelves on either side of the seat.Particularly if they desire privacy or need extra space to sprawl out and work throughout the journey, those throne seats are frequently highly sought after by lone passengers.
The flatbed is enclosed by high walls on either side, making for a tight, claustrophobic sensation, which is why thrones are typically viewed as being far less pleasant for sleeping.
Finnair’s A330s don’t have premium economy, but they do have a 40-seat section called “economic comfort” where the regular 18″-wide economy seat is configured in a 2-4-2 configuration and has a 35″ pitch as opposed to 32″ in the rest of the economy cabin.
It is unknown if the inflight WiFi on the Finnair A330s will be turned on and accessible to passengers on the flights to Singapore and Bangkok.
