QANTAS: Wet-leased Finnair’s AirLounge Business Class coming to Sydney to Honolulu route

The fixed Business Class seat is titled the AirLounge. It comes with the Finnair Airbus A330 aircraft that Qantas is wet-leasing from Finnair. The Scandinavian airline has a surplus of aircraft and staff now that it cannot fulfil its regular routes by flying over Russia. Russian airspace has been closed due to the war with Ukraine.

Qantas wet-leased these aircraft to service its routes to Singapore and Bangkok. This additional jet will be the first to be deployed on the Sydney to Honolulu route. It won’t be wet-leased, either, meaning that Qantas pilots and cabin crew will staff the flight deck and cabins.

The flights

According to ET, from 26 October 2025, Qantas will replace its Boeing 787 Dreamliner with the leased A330 for five services per week. A sixth service will be flown over the Summer between 4 December 2025 and 29 January 2026, but it will still use a Qantas 787. 

As of October 2025, Qantas has taken over both the Melbourne and Sydney to Hawaii services from Jetstar. That’s an indication that the route has moved on from its low-cost customer base. The Qantas 787s have both Business Class (42 fully flat beds) and Premium Economy (28 recliners), plus Economy (166 seats). This means the route is now premium-heavy since Jetstar has no flatbed Business Class and no Premium Economy.

The AirLounge on Finnair’s A330

This aircraft swap means instead of getting the Qantas Business Suite, you will be occupying the Finnair non-reclining Airlounge in Business Class.

These A330s have 28 non-reclining Business Class seats with a pitch of 198cm (78″) and a width of 63cm (25″). Premium Economy is made up of 21 recliner seats in a 2-3-2 configuration with 97cm (38″) seat pitch and 48cm (18.5″) seat width. The remainder of the cabin is made up of 230 Economy Class seats in a 2-4-2 configuration with a pitch of 79cm (31″) and a 44cm (17.5″) width.

The controversial attribute is the AirLounge Business Class seats, which don’t recline but are more of a couch-in-the-sky. Views on the shell-like seats are divided. Some seem to love them while others loathe them.

The trick seems to be carefully deploying the two pillows provided and using the bedroll as a bolster.

I have read that the biggest downside of this design seems to be the inability to view the screen adequately when lying near supine. The screen does not pivot down.

2PAXfly Takeout

I’m scheduled to take one of these Finnair wet-leased flights to Southeast Asia in June, so I will report back on what I think of them then.

I’ll try to pump out a ‘first Impressions’ piece to post as soon as I land.

I’m looking forward to the experience. I’ll be on a daytime flight, so it’s not a big issue if I don’t get any sleep!