Qantas Freight adds to freighter fleet

Qantas Freight has taken delivery of another Airbus A321 converted freighter as part of its agreement with Australia Post.

The freighter is the first of three additional A321Fs that will be delivered to Qantas to help it meet growing demand for “fast and reliable parcel deliveries across Australia”.

The additional two A321P2F freighters are scheduled to join the Qantas Freight fleet by March 2027.

The Airbus aircraft will be used to replace the smaller BAE 146-300 freighters that they will replace, helping “support growing parcel volumes, reduce emissions and improving network efficiency across Australia”.

Following delivery of the aircraft, Qantas has a fleet of eight A321 freighters.

The converted A321 freighters offer a capacity of around 28 tonnes, while the BAE 146-300s offer around 12 tonnes of capacity.

“The delivery of the three aircraft will add up to 20% capacity to the Qantas-operated dedicated freighter network, increasing the capability to reliably uplift up to 20,000 Australia Post and StarTrack parcels on each and every flight,” the airline said.

Qantas pointed out that the freighter had arrived just in time for the Black Friday sales period and the peak Christmas delivery season.

The new freighters will support overnight and next-day deliveries across the country and will service all Qantas Freight domestic terminals including the new 24-hour terminal at Western Sydney International (WSI) Airport, which commenced operations in July.

Qantas Freight and Australia Post recently extended their contract for another 10 years.

“The renewed agreement will support the movement of more than 75 million parcels and other freight items annually across Australia and overseas,” the airline said.

Australia Post general manager linehaul fleet and special services Mark Davies said: “These new aircraft will help us move more parcels across our network and provide additional capacity at a time when online shopping continues to grow and major retail events are driving record parcel volumes.

“The addition of these aircraft, alongside the opening of Western Sydney International Airport’s 24-hour freight terminal, will help strengthen the resilience and capacity of our network for years to come.”