Qantas to upgrade A380 business class seats to new Business Suites

I'm assuming the thirty fewer economy seats will be the removal of the upper deck economy section, which is a shame.

I was hoping QF would go the whole hog and install new seats for all cabins, like they did with the A333s but glad to finally see substantial improvement for business class.

I feel like that 'lounge space' is a waste of real estate.

And no mention of wifi on board 

CANNOT WAIT!

2nd Qtr 2019 before they begin the re-fit....that's disappointing considering the current hard product is already years behind competitors who will be looking at enhancement to theirs by that stage.  I know they are replacing some of the Asian services with the A380 over the peak periods, but I don't understand why the upgrade doesn't get any priority.  The sad thing is that even American Airlines have a better hard Business Class product than Qantas now.

There was speculation that this would happen sooner, based on withdrawing A380s from the MEL-LHR route.  Does that mean there are some additional A380 services to be announced ?  

Such a big increase in premium economy suggests that demand for this is growing well. Good to see.

No mention of canabilising even more business class toilets which Qantas seems to have become an industry expert at? - holding my breath.......perhaps Y pax will be sharing F lavs considering they are all on lower deck ;)

I wonder what this means for the popular smaller business seat section at the front? Will a larger lounge area mean this goes or the number of seats there reduces?

It would be a shame to see that section go though with the axing of flights to London I may not fly premium cabins in the QF A380 much if at all after the refurb anyway.

Assume this extends to installation of Panasonic eX3 servers with the equivelanet seat units and screens being replaced in First, Business and Premium Economy.

Economy would then get new seat cushions and retain the eX2 seat units with a slightly dumbed down interface like the A332 fleet?

I'm impressed, although I am somewhat surprised that QF is increasing their non-economy capacity so starkly. They're clearly trying to get premium traffic back from Emirates with this (plus the Premium Economy market space is something they have a monopoly on). I wonder how the EK partnership will change as a result... maybe cutting a few of the 777 frequencies? 

There is a cost time thing here as well, as they are only stripping out the upper deck and I am sure they will do a D check at the same time. That is why it is 2019-2020 so they get another 10 years out of them.

One wonders why Joyce is cutting capacity to London and at the same time claiming there's increased demand for services?

Too little too late. They lost me to CX and SG years ago. typical QF, big announcement, lagging the market by 5 plus years with implementation 5 yrs away........who are they kidding. 

No Y on the Upper Deck anymore - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And they need to consider a new executive chef.

Good to see those dreary grey plastic shells go. They looked like the plastics on the inside of a cheap car from day one.

thank you for the opportunity to complain about the 'Neil Perry' inspired food.  I have sent back several (especially the veal cutlet from Jo'burg to Sydney, bus. class) and because I pre-ordered it no other meal was available. It was inedible. he should return the fortune Qantas has paid him.  

All great if you aren't doing the BNE/LAX/JFK routes.  QF need to revamp the Business seats on the old 747's .... After all we are still paying Business fares and the seats are tired and need new cushions.  We know they are going to retire the old work horses, but give passengers a decent seat for the money they pay.

How wide will the Business Class 'lay down' seats be?

Good to see they are in a hurry to commence to commence the refurb.....that's ridiculous timing. They should have had this planned years ago. If things are so bright and they are making that sort of profit, move quicker!

Great news but I do think Qantas could look at the new Delta style Business suite. I know It's best to keep the Business Product the same but by 2019 who know's what going to be out there. 

"The airline will also refurbish the final two Airbus A330 jets still flying with first-generation, angled-flat Skybeds to the new Qantas Business Suites, although a timeline for this is not yet known." via @David | Booked a return PEK-SYD-MEL trip for mum flying C in February 2018, paid a modest amount for the first-generation A330 fare (equivalent to AUD$2,466 return). Fingers crossed that the refurbishment will be completed prior. Skybed II was already good enough - after the cabin reconfiguration finishes, the next step of aiming for Skytrax 5 Star Airlines should be on the horizon. 

I don’t like side by side J seating where someone has to step over a fellow passenger. The Cathay angled seating is much better. When departing Australia for France where I live for their summer, I like to be somewhere else straight away, so Cathay does that. MEL-CDG direct sound great but Hong Kong is a great place for some much needed chopstick practice. All Cathay flights are over-night so a couple of Tamazapan and Bob’s your Uncle. Hong Kong typically processes an Australian Passport holder in 12 seconds; not so Melbourne!

Compared to the original QF A380 upper deck, the new layout will have 28 more PE seats and a larger lounge with only 2 fewer J seats.  I didn't expect the new J seat to be that much more space efficient than the old one.  It will be interesting to see the detailed new layout.  

I hope First cabins get an upgrade with some element of sophistication. While I understand our Aussie culture is one of 'less is more', the current QF F cabin colour scheme/materials used is plain boring. The toilets too are no better than many other first rate carriers Business Class lavs in size and finish. A bit of pizzazz QF - come on?! 

Second quarter of 2019??  Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

One would think SYD-DFW will be one of the last routes using the non-refurbished planes. As QF can't fill those planes due to the length of the flight it would have the least need for extra seats.

I prefer direct aisle accss in J which CX offer & QF A380 does not, so will continue to transit HKG with CX