Qantas is bringing forward the retirement of its ageing Airbus A380s, the double-decker jet billed as the world’s biggest passenger airliner, as it reports falling profit.

The airline will begin phasing out its 10-strong fleet of A380s in 2028, instead of 2032, it revealed on Thursday.

Qantas uses the wide-body planes on long-haul international routes out of Sydney and Melbourne, including to London and Los Angeles.

Thursday’s announcement came after the airline revealed the war in the Middle East and higher jet fuel costs had shaved hundreds of millions off its results.

Qantas made a net profit of $1.3 billion for 2025-26, down 19.8 per cent from the previous financial year.

Chief executive Vanessa Hudson on Thursday recalled being at Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse, France, when Qantas collected its first A380 in 2008.

“It actually just feels like yesterday, but I can remember the excitement that we had as an organisation around what this new aircraft was going to do,” she said.

“Since then, those aircraft have carried millions of customers around the world, and they are loved by our customers, and they are loved by our staff.”

The aircraft was incredibly valuable in Qantas’ response to the war with Iran, accommodating customers shifting their travel around the Middle East.

But the A380 is no longer in production, with Airbus delivering its last one to Emirates in December 2021.

Hudson said the costs of operating the aircraft would only increase in terms of maintenance and disruptions.

The next-generation jets replacing them can fly further, operating all of Qantas’ current routes and opening up new ones.

In April, Qantas will take delivery of the first of a dozen Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft, which it will fly from Sydney to New York and London non-stop beginning in October under “Project Sunrise”.

“I can tell you that my excitement and the reaction to this aircraft has been like nothing I have seen,” Hudson said.

Qantas also has existing orders for 12 more standard Airbus A350s and a dozen more Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The first of the Dreamliners begins arriving in 2027-28.

“The new aircraft that are coming are fantastic, and we know that our customers are going to love them,” Hudson said.

Qantas Group’s Jetstar subsidiary this week used one of its Dreamliners to launch new flights between Melbourne and Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Qantas is in further talks with Airbus and Boeing to convert 20 of its existing purchase rights options to firm orders from 2030.

“Given that process is underfoot, there’s not much more to say about that,” Hudson said.

While Qantas’s net profit is down, its  underlying pre-tax profit also fell, by 13.8 per cent to $2.1 billion. It followed a 7.1 per cent rise in revenue to $25.5 billion. 

The Middle East conflict has cost the airline $610 million in increased fuel costs, although Qantas’ efforts to adjust fares and redeploy aircraft limited its net impact to $420 million.

Shares in Qantas, which will pay a final dividend of 19.8 cents for an annual total of 39.6 cents, rose by more than 2 per cent to $9.44 in morning trading.

Qantas has also cancelled a planned $150 million share buyback.

-AAP