On Monday morning (2), Australia’s Qantas, one of the world’s leading airlines, announced a mega order with Airbus for up to 146 jets (including firm orders and purchase options), which will define its fleet in the coming months. 20 years.

With that, Boeing and Embraer remain losers of the multibillion-dollar order.

Due to the characteristics of the business, where Airbus offers a package of several categories of aircraft, it is evident how standardization is important for traditional companies and how the absence of a more comprehensive offer can be lacking for manufacturers – Boeing does not have a jet regional, while Embraer does not have larger planes.

To cite as an example, two other airlines that followed in the same direction as Qantas were Delta Air Lines, Air France and JetBlue, also traditional in the world aviation market.

In any case, this would not be the end of the line for Embraer’s business potential with Qantas, since the company still has lower density regional lines, where it is precisely using leased Embraer E190 jets and 19 more Fokker 100s, which will have to be replaced.

So, despite not being part of the big package of the day, the Brazilian manufacturer would still have a chance to license its smaller aircraft, such as the E190 E2.

The project

A few years ago, Qantas launched Project Winton, which aims to replace all of its Boeing 737s and 717s as they age. The initiative’s name was inspired by Qantas’ birthplace in rural Queensland, as the decision was considered critical to the future of our domestic operations.

When the project was created, Qantas had 75 174-seat Boeing 737-800s, and 20 100-125-seat 717s. Competing for the big deal were the Boeing 737 MAX, the Airbus A320neo, in the largest capacity category, and the Airbus A220 and Embraer E-195 E2 in the regional jet category.

Qantas’ decision

The interesting thing about the Australian flag company’s decision is between the lines, since its order includes firm orders for 20 Airbus A220-300s, that is, the same number of Boeing 717 jets that the company still has, but also a total of 94 purchase options (that is, orders that may or may not take place in the future), which can be exchanged between the European manufacturer’s A220 and A320neo families.

Such a business model would be virtually impossible for Boeing or Embraer, which have limited supplies.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “The A320 and A220 will become the backbone of our domestic fleet for the next 20 years, helping to keep this country moving. regional cities.”

the aircraft

The A220-300 is larger than the 717 and will be configured to accommodate 137 people (10 Business, 127 Economy) – a 25% increase with no reduction in seat space. It has almost double the range at over 6,000 kilometers, which means it can fly between any city in Australia.

The aircraft will be equipped with Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan engines (PW1100G-JM and PW1500G) and noise levels are up to 50% lower than those of the aircraft in retreat. Per seat, the A220-300 consumes 28% less fuel per passenger than the 717.