It has been revealed that Qantas has delayed the long-awaited international debut of its new Airbus A220-300 aircraft. The Australian flag carrier’s latest fleet addition, operated by its regional subsidiary QantasLink, was due to commence scheduled services between Darwin and Singapore at the end of March 2025. However, it is understood that this has now been put back by seven months until October 2025.
The airline had originally intended for the smallest member of its jet fleet to enter service on the Darwin International Airport (DRW) to Singapore-Changi International Airport (SIN) route on March 30, 2025, operating the route five days per week. Instead, the carrier will deploy the larger Boeing 737-800 on the route, which accommodates 174 passengers versus 137 in the A220. The flights will only operate four days per week from March to October, reflecting the slight increase in capacity per flight.
The move from the Airbus A220 to the Boeing 737-800 is the latest aircraft switch in the saga surrounding the Darwin to Singapore route. The new service was originally planned to commence operations in December 2024 using a leased Embraer E190 jet before being delayed to March 2025 to be flown by the A220.
According to a report in Executive Traveller, the delayed introduction of the A220 on Qantas’ international network is due to a delay in having sufficient pilots trained to fly the Airbus aircraft. Previously, these crews operated QantasLink’s aging fleet of Boeing 717-200 twinjets, which were finally retired in late 2024 after over 20 years of service with the carrier.
From October 26, 2025, when the A220 finally takes over the 2,075 miles (3,320km) route, the flights to Singapore with flight number QF281 will depart Darwin at 16:05 arriving in Singapore at 19:25. The return flight (QF282) will leave the Garden City at 22:25 arriving back in Darwin at 04:45 the following morning.
The A220 flights have been scheduled to allow Darwin passengers to connect on to Qantas’ daily flagship long-haul route between Sydney-Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) and London-Heathrow Airport (LHR). QF1 departs Singapore for London at 23:05, giving passengers from Darwin ample time to make their onward flight to Europe.
According to ch-aviation, Qantas currently operates 75 737-800s with an average age of 16.9 years plus five A220-300 with an average age of just seven months. The A220 fleet is currently deployed on QantasLink’s domestic flights on the East Coast of Australia, linking Sydney and Melbourne with Hobart, Launceston, and Coffs Harbour, along with flights from Melbourne to Canberra and Brisbane. The carrier has a total of 29 A220s on order from Airbus, with all 29 due to be in service by the end of 2027, replacing older 737-800s which will be due for retirement.
While the QantasLink A220s will not feature the seatback screens found on the current Qantas 737s, they will feature complimentary free WiFi on the Darwin to Singapore route, a difference that Qantas is promoting as a step up, stating that most passengers travel with their own personal devices these days in any event.
Qantas is currently in the process of modernizing its entire fleet, moving away from Boeing products and replacing them with an ultra-modern Airbus fleet that will include A220s, A320neo family aircraft, plus A350-1000s long-haul widebodies for the carrier’s first non-stop flights to Europe sometime in late 2026.
