Qantas Retrofitting Boeing 737s With New Interiors: Good & Bad News

Qantas has announced plans to “upgrade” the cabins of its Boeing 737s, though it’s not all good news…

Qantas updating Boeing 737 cabins as of 2027

Qantas will introduce new interiors on many of its Boeing 737s — the carrier currently flies 75 Boeing 737-800s, and 42 of those are expected to receive a full cabin overhaul. With this overhaul, we’ll see:

• New business class seats
• New economy class seats
• New, larger overhead bins, which can accommodate up to 50% more bags
• A full cabin refresh with new carpets, sidewalls, and mood lighting
• The aircraft will continue to feature fast and free Wi-Fi

Even though these planes are an average of nearly 17 years old, Qantas is promising the interiors to deliver an “as-new” cabin experience. The intent is that the interiors will be very similar to those on the Airbus A321XLRs that the airline will soon start taking delivery of.

Now, there’s one major downside to this project, which is glossed over in the announcement. Currently, many Qantas 737s have seat back television throughout the plane. As these planes are reconfigured, personal televisions will be eliminated, in favor of streaming entertainment, and fast and free Wi-Fi.

Here’s how Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson describes this investment:

“Investing in our fleet is one of the most significant ways that we can transform the flying experience for our customers and make sure we’re consistently delivering a great journey. As we bring more new aircraft into our fleet, we are also making our existing aircraft look and feel like new.

“Previous cabin upgrade programs have delivered great outcomes for our customers, and allowed us to bring next generation designs and technologies to current fleet that reflect how our customers want to travel. This investment in cabins will also support our people who are dedicated to providing the best inflight experience to our customers.”

When will Qantas reconfigure its Boeing 737s?

The major catch with Qantas’ Boeing 737 project is that we’ll have to be patient. The first reconfigured plane is only expected to enter service in early 2027, around two years from now, and that’s the best case scenario.

Given that these planes are an average of nearly 17 years old, some might be wondering how much longer they’ll be sticking around. Qantas states that 737s are expected to leave the fleet toward the end of the current fleet renewal program, which would be in roughly a decade.

With Qantas having taken delivery of 737s between 2002 and 2018, it’s going to be interesting to see which planes will be reconfigured. My guess would be that the 42 newest aircraft will be reconfigured, since those are most likely to stick around for another decade, or so.

Meanwhile I’d expect that the 33 oldest aircraft are likely to be retired ahead of the completion of the fleet renewal, with those planes having been delivered in 2002-2006.

Bottom line

Qantas has announced plans to introduce new interiors on a majority of its Boeing 737s. The first plane should be reconfigured in early 2027, and the idea is to bring the aircraft interiors up to the same standard as the latest generation aircraft the airline is taking delivery of.

While travelers will no doubt appreciate new seats and overhead bins, the catch is that seat back televisions are being eliminated, since that’s not something that Qantas is offering on its new narrow body aircraft.

What do you make of Qantas’ Boeing 737 fleet plans?