Qantas' Airbus A220-300s Will Make Their International Debut Next Year

Qantas has revealed the first international destination that will be served by its new Airbus A220-300 aircraft. The Australian flag carrier has opted for Wellington in New Zealand, with its A220s flying across the Tasman Sea from Brisbane as early as next February. Initially, these jets will serve the route as often as three times a week.

This exciting step forward forms part of a wider expansion of Qantas’ trans-Tasman operations, which will see the Australian flag carrier and oneworld founding member add more than 200,000 seats on flights to and from New Zealand next year. These will be concentrated across four routes, of which three are served by Jetstar.

Qantas’ A220s Are Preparing To Make Their International Bow

Airbus

Qantas’ Airbus A220-300s, which fly under the Australian flag carrier’s Qantaslink feeder brand and are operated by regional subsidiary National Jet Services, have been touted for an international introduction before. Indeed, as reported by Simple Flying this year, they had previously been slated to take over from the Embraer E190 between Darwin and Singapore, but Qantas instead chose the Boeing 737-800.

Now, however, Qantas has confirmed that the A220’s international debut with the national airline will actually come in the form of flights between Brisbane (BNE) and Wellington (WLG) from February of 2026. The Australian flag carrier initially plans to operate the type three times a week on this route, replacing the E190 and some 737 flights. Cam Wallace, who serves as the CEO of Qantas International, said that:

“The A220 is our newest aircraft and has some of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the fleet, so we’re particularly excited to be offering the experience to customers travelling internationally from Brisbane-Wellington next year.”

Part Of A Wider Trans-Tasman Expansion

Wikimedia Commons

Qantas highlights the fact that the A220 “is significantly more fuel efficient than previous generation aircraft and offers customers a more comfortable travel experience.” For instance, the features of the latter aspect include “a light and bright cabin design, large windows and overhead lockers, and fast free Wi-Fi available on flights.” However, the A220’s debut isn’t the only trans-Tasman development in 2026.

Indeed, in the context of the wider Qantas Group, the Australian flag carrier’s low-cost Jetstar brand is launching a new route from Brisbane to Queenstown (ZQN) in June of next year. This corridor is targeted at ski tourism in the Southern Hemisphere winter, with more than 17,000 seats available on Jetstar’s Airbus A320-200 aircraft between June and October. Fares start at AU$249 ($164.50) each way.

The Qantas Group’s existing routes from Australia to New Zealand will also see growth next year, with almost 210,000 seats being added across four trans-Tasman routes in 2026 as frequencies go up. For Qantas, this comes in the form of 5,000 more seats between Sydney and Christchurch, while Jetstar is planning five-figure seat boosts from Brisbane and Sydney to Auckland and Melbourne to Christchurch.

Qantas’ Airbus A220-300 Fleet In A Nutshell

Qantas

As far as the Airbus A220-300 aircraft that will debut on the trans-Tasman route from Brisbane to Wellington in February of 2026 go, current fleet data made available by ch-aviation shows that Qantas has seven of these modern narrowbodies at its disposal. They are 1.1 years old on average, and 22 more units are on order.

As noted in the table above, despite being used on regional and short-haul routes, these small twinjets do have a dedicated business class cabin on board. Located at the front of the plane, data from aeroLOPA shows that these seats are 20 inches wide, offer five inches of recline, and even feature a wireless charging pad.

IATA Code

QF

ICAO Code

QFA

Year Founded

1920

According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Qantas has scheduled 1,246 services with the A220-300 this month. All of these are domestic flights operated by National Jet Services under the Qantaslink regional feeder brand, and Melbourne to Brisbane is the most popular, with 219 outbound and 218 inbound sectors penciled in. These are also the type’s longest Qantas flights, at 857 miles (1,379 km).