Qantas Freight

Qantas Freight is a part of Qantas, the biggest airline in Australia. This company takes care of all the cargo that flies in the Qantas Group. They own a special airline called Express Freighters Australia just for carrying goods, and they also have a company named Qantas Courier that helps move packages.

In the past, Qantas Freight worked together with Australia Post on two important projects: Australian airExpress for delivering packages from door to door, and StarTrack for moving goods by road. But in 2012, Qantas Freight bought all of Australian airExpress and sold its part in StarTrack back to Australia Post.

They used to own a company in Asia called DPEXWorldwide, but sold it to a competitor named Toll Holdings in 2010. Today, Qantas Freight helps put cargo in the belly of planes for both Qantas and Jetstar flights, whether they’re flying inside Australia or to other countries around the world.

Destinations

As of October 2024, Qantas Freight directly serves 50 international and 80 domestic destinations. It can also reach 480 global destinations through its airline partners. In 2024, it signed an agreement with Emirates to work together on cargo services.

Fleet

As of November 2024, Qantas Freight subsidiary Express Freighters Australia operates the following aircraft:

As of November 2024, Qantas Freight wet-leases 14 aircraft that operate both domestic and international services on behalf of the airline, these include:

• Aerlink - 1 ATR 72-200F (VH-AK3)
• Airwork - 2 Boeing 737-400F
• ASL Australia (Pionair) - 3 BAe 146-200 (QT) & 2 BAe 146-300 (QT)
• Atlas Air - 2 Boeing 747-400F
• National Jet Express - 3 BAe 146-300 (QT)

Fleet development

In June 2016, the 737-400F, two of the 737-300Fs and three BAe 146s were rebranded and are operated as a dedicated fleet for Australia Post and StarTrack.

In April 2019, Qantas Freight announced it would wet-lease two Atlas Air Boeing 747-8F aircraft to replace the two current wet-leased 747-400F aircraft. The first aircraft landed in Sydney on 27 August with small Qantas Freight decals applied (visible when the forward nose cargo door is open), with the second due later in the week.

In August 2019, Qantas Freight announced a deal with Australia Post which was worth $1.4 billion. Included in the deal was Qantas Freight's announcement of the purchase of the world's first A321P2F, of which they ordered 3 to be delivered from October 2020.

In December 2019, ASL Airlines Australia (formally Pionair) put the first BAe 146 into service on a wet-lease for Qantas Freight since then this has steadily increased to have all 5 of ASL's BAe 146 aircraft operating for Qantas.

In February 2023, Qantas announced that 3 additional A321P2F would be ordered for delivery in 2024 and 2025.

In May 2024, Aerlink quietly announced that they would operate a wet-leased ATR 72-200F, VH-AK3, for Qantas Freight in Queensland, between Brisbane, Mackay and Rockhampton, with the service beginning in late June 2024.

Former fleet

Price-fixing case

Some airlines, including Qantas Freight, were accused of working together to set prices too high between 2000 and 2006. In November 2007, Qantas Freight agreed to accept the blame in a court in the United States and was fined US$61 million. In Australia, Qantas also agreed to pay a fine of A$20 million to settle the case.