Qantas will begin phasing out its 10-strong fleet of flagship A380s in 2028 instead of 2032, it revealed on Thursday, as it reported a sharp drop in profit stemming from the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Qantas made a net profit of $1.3 billion for 2025/26, down 19.8 per cent from the previous financial year.
The year had been playing out strongly for Qantas until the Middle East war derailed things, resulting in $420 million in lost profit.
Qantas executives said bringing forward the retirement of the A380 would result in about $300 million in savings, primarily from lower maintenance costs.
The aircraft has been out of production since 2021 and Qantas has experienced challenges sourcing parts.
The carrier uses the wide-body planes on long-haul international routes out of Sydney and Melbourne.
Chief executive Vanessa Hudson on Thursday recalled being at Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse, France, when Qantas collected its first A380 in 2008.
"It actually just feels like yesterday, but I can remember the excitement that we had as an organisation around what this new aircraft was going to do," she told reporters.
"And since then, those aircraft have carried millions of customers around the world and they are loved by our customers and they are loved by our staff."
The aircraft played a critical role in Qantas' response to the war with Iran, accommodating passengers keen to shift their travel around the Middle East, executives said.
Qantas International chief executive Cam Wallace called the A380 "our flagship" and spoke about how beloved they were, during a conference call with analysts.
But the next-generation jets replacing them will be cheaper to maintain and can fly further, opening new routes.
In April, Qantas will take delivery of the first of a dozen Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft, which it will fly from Sydney to London non-stop beginning in October.
Non-stop flights between Sydney and New York will start in 2028, with the airline predicting the "Project Sunrise" flights will earn it another $400 million a year when all the planes are flying by 2030/2031.
"I can tell you that my excitement and the reaction to this aircraft has been like nothing I have seen," Ms Hudson said.
Qantas has existing orders for 12 more standard Airbus A350s and a dozen more Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
The first of the Dreamliners will begin arriving in 2027/28 and will feature sliding privacy doors in business class.
Qantas Group's Jetstar subsidiary this week used one of its Dreamliners to launch new flights between Melbourne and Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Qantas is in talks with Airbus and Boeing to convert 20 of its existing purchase rights to firm orders from 2030 to give it 10 more A350s and 10 more 787s.
The airline said the Middle East conflict cost it $610 million in increased fuel costs, although efforts to adjust fares and redeploy aircraft limited the net impact to $420 million.
The company's shares were changing hands at $9.58 on Thursday afternoon, up four per cent from Wednesday's close.
The airline has cancelled a planned $150 million share buyback but will pay a final dividend of 19.8 cents for an annual total of 39.6 cents.
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