On May 7, 2021, Australian flag-carrier Qantas announced that it would activate five Embraer E190 aircraft in Adelaide, as part of a plan to boost domestic travel and add more routes in response to a growing demand in leisure and corporate travel.
The Embraer E190 aircraft, having a layout of 94 seats and a five-hour range, would be deployed in Adelaide as part of a deal with Alliance Airlines. An agreement was signed to provide the national carrier with the extra capacity of Alliance’s recently acquired 14 Embraer jets, depending on market conditions.
“The E190 is a great aircraft for the Adelaide market, with its size, range and economics opening up a number of new destinations that wouldn’t be viable with the larger 737 aircraft,” Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce said. “Instead of one or two flights a day with a larger aircraft, we can offer three or four flights a day on the E190, which gives customers a lot more choice about when they travel.”
With extra capacity for the domestic market, Qantas will launch more routes from Adelaide to other destinations, such as Gold Coast, Canberra and Darwin beginning June 2021. The five E190 aircraft would be able to carry almost one million additional passengers to and from Adelaide each year.
Furthermore, five Embraer E190s would help the Australian airline grow its domestic capacity to 107% of pre-COVID-19 levels in the fiscal year of 2022. Additionally, the newly activated E190s would free up Qantas’ Boeing 737 aircraft to be deployed across other domestic routes.
“We’re continuing to see really positive signs of sustained recovery, with strong travel demand and forward bookings expected to see our domestic capacity back above 100 per cent of pre-COVID levels in the coming months,” Joyce added.
Currently, Qantas has a total of 133 aircraft in its fleet, as per Planespotters.net data. The largest part of the airline’s fleet consists of Boeing 737 aircraft family and Airbus A330 aircraft.