Qantas signals a pivotal shift for Australia’s corporate travel market

A fireside chat at FACTS 2025 in Sydney offered rare candour from Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace - and the implications for Australia’s corporate travel sector are significant. In conversation with Greener Airlines founder Peter Harbison, Wallace painted a picture of an airline in transformation: ambitious fleet renewal, a sharpened dual-brand strategy, a premium push and, importantly for corporate buyers, a firm stance on sustainability and distribution reform.

Much of the early discussion centred on aircraft, but for corporates, fleet renewal is more than product upgrade - it’s about network flexibility and schedule resilience. Wallace described the new A321XLR as “providing wide-body range ... but with narrow-body economics”, enabling Qantas to open up thinner international routes from secondary Australian cities. Forty-eight XLRs are on order, with 16 configured with lie-flat seats. For business travellers based outside Sydney and Melbourne, that translates into new one-stop and non-stop options and, critically, more premium inventory on long domestic and short-haul international sectors.

Qantas’ broader fleet renewal — more A350s, 787s and A220s — also underpins the carrier’s confidence in long-term growth. “It’s the biggest fleet renewal we’ve ever had,” Wallace noted. For corporates frustrated by post-pandemic capacity constraints and high fares, expanding supply is welcome news. Yet Wallace was careful to temper expectations: “There’s an awful lot of work to do to get the product and the aircraft inducted correctly.”

Sustainability remains the thorniest issue for travel buyers, and Harbison pressed Wallace hard on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Qantas is currently uplifting SAF in London and the US, and has publicly committed to 10% SAF usage by 2030. But the current reality is bleak: SAF remains “three or four times more expensive than jet fuel” and Australian production is negligible. Still, Wallace insisted that Qantas sees SAF as a national opportunity, not just a corporate responsibility. “Australia is positioned perfectly ... to create a really viable and productive SAF industry,” he said, adding that in the last six months “we have seen some momentum with government”.

For corporate clients facing mandatory emissions reporting, Wallace acknowledged the bind: without SAF, reliance falls back on offsets — an increasingly unpopular tool. He conceded that offsets are “a vast array … [and] what the market wants is high-quality offsets”, but argued they remain necessary until domestic SAF supply matures. Qantas is simultaneously building emissions-measurement tools for corporate customers, aiming to “lean into the challenge rather than sidestep it”.

One of the more immediate pressure points for travel managers is demand — or the softening of it. When asked about recent comments by Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson on a soft domestic corporate segment, Wallace clarified that the weakness is concentrated on the Sydney–Melbourne–Brisbane triangle. “It’s still growing, but it's not growing as much as we initially thought,” he said. Western Australia remains an outlier, buoyed by mining and resources. Qantas will adjust capacity accordingly, but Wallace insisted the domestic corporate market is fundamentally sound — if more competitive. Virgin had earlier claimed marketshare gains, which Wallace dismissed with a grin: “We’re really confident in our market position.”

That confidence is bolstered by a bold domestic product move: introducing Premium Economy (Y+) on Australian routes. Wallace framed it as a strategic response to global structural trends: “There’s a movement towards premium cabins … not just a trend, a structural change.” He emphasised that carriers worldwide, including low-cost operators, are densifying premium seating. For corporates, domestic Y+ could become the new baseline for policy and traveller comfort expectations, especially on longer sectors.

Internationally, Qantas is in expansion mode. Premium demand remains “strong… in business and first,” Wallace said, with the carrier adding capacity to the US, Japan, Rome, and across the Tasman. Growth of 8% is forecast this financial year, supported by new markets and restored frequencies. For corporates, it represents renewed stability in long-haul supply after two volatile years.

Perhaps the most consequential theme for travel buyers, however, was distribution — specifically Qantas’ rollout of New Distribution Capability (NDC). Wallace was unapologetic about the scale of change: “We’re well ahead of our business case … and the servicing has been better than [agents] expected”. He acknowledged years of pushback, calling NDC a “structural change to the distribution system” after 50 years of relative stasis, but insisted the airline had remained flexible and responsive. Importantly, he stressed that Qantas had “reinvested in [its] people” rather than cut back, countering criticism aimed at some overseas carriers.

For corporates navigating a fragmented content environment — split between NDC, GDSs and direct channels — Wallace highlighted Qantas’ intent to provide “a proposition … highly flexible, tailored towards what [customers] want.” With Virgin yet to commit to an NDC path, Qantas’ position could shape market norms, particularly in fare types, servicing capability and data flow.

Ultimately, the conversation revealed an airline that sees corporate travel as a stabilising anchor but not its sole growth engine. The reshaping of domestic premium, a more flexible international network, a pragmatic sustainability stance and a confident distribution pivot all signal structural shifts that will influence travel programmes across Australia.

For business travel professionals, the message is clear: Qantas is preparing for a different market: one defined by premium segmentation, new route economics, sustainability scrutiny and rapidly evolving distribution technology. Corporate buyers will need to adapt just as quickly.