Qantas weighs order for 20 Boeing or Airbus wide-body jets, sources say

By Tim Hepher

PARIS, June 4 (Reuters) - Qantas is in talks with planemakers over a possible order for around 20 Airbus or Boeing wide-body jets, industry sources said.

The Australian carrier is considering additional Boeing 787s or the main variant of Airbus' A350, the sources said, declining to be named as the talks are confidential.

Airbus and Boeing declined to comment.

A Qantas spokesperson said: "We're in regular contact with aircraft manufacturers as part of our ongoing fleet planning and always update the market when we have something to announce. We currently have no updates or orders to announce."

Despite geopolitical uncertainty, airlines have been expanding their wide-body fleets to ease industry shortages.

Qantas' talks come as Singapore Airlines has opened discussions to buy at least 50 of the industry's biggest jets to plan for growth in the next decade, Reuters reported earlier.

Qantas operates some 128 jets and is in the middle of a fleet renewal programme involving 200 aircraft.

It has outstanding orders for 12 Boeing 787s and 24 larger Airbus A350-1000s, including 12 of a new "Ultra-Long Range" variant designed for non-stop fights from Australia's east coast to London or New York under "Project Sunrise".

The airline has also disclosed existing options to buy more jets, split evenly between Airbus and Boeing. The sources said some of these could be exercised as part of the latest study.

Qantas has been a regular battleground for Airbus and Boeing. Its decision 20 years ago to pick Boeing's new composite 787 partly forced Airbus to ditch its original less ambitious A350 design.

Such lightweight jets are now at the heart of the wide-body market, though Qantas has yet to order the main A350-900 version.

The first specially adapted A350-1000ULR designed for record 22-hour "Project Sunrise" flights made its maiden flight on Tuesday, but the first delivery has been delayed by about four months to April 2027 due to supply chain issues.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher. Editing by Hugh Lawson and Mark Potter)