Why does Qantas acquire old aircraft for FIFO charters?
Over the last few months, Qantas have announced additions to their FIFO (fly-in fly-out) mining charter fleet in Western Australia. In June, they announced the acquisition of up to 14x “mid-life” E190s with deliveries beginning in 2026, while also in June they announced that several “mid-life” A320s would be transferred to the QantasLink FIFO fleet from Jetstar Asia later this year. While we don’t know the exact age of the E190s, Jetstar Asia’s 13x A320s range between 12 and 15 years, with an average age of 13 years.
These aren’t the only recent “mid-life” acquisitions for QantasLink’s FIFO fleet. Since 2024, they’ve acquired 9x A319s that range between 18 and 20 years old, while between 2018 and 2023 they took over 15x A320s that are now between 20 and 21 years old from Jetstar and JetstarAsia.
The additional E190s and A320s are joining the fleet to replace 14x Fokker F100s that are themselves between 31 and 35 years old. While the replacements seem young in comparison, they aren’t spring chickens!
Our friend and armchair CEO extraordinaire Caleb will likely have a very confident opinion how he would order new build aircraft from Airbus or Boeing for the FIFO fleet, but safe to say that he’d bankrupt the business instantly. Let’s explore why …