Interesting that they chose to cancel 787-9s while keeping the 787-8s. I would think with JQ's long-haul expansion on hold it would make sense to cancel the -8s and order some A330-200s as an Australian(?) blogger had said was imminent.

But I guess QF has decided to maybe not exercise an A330-200 order and wait for the 787-8 to enter JQ service down the road (when JQ will be ready to take them) and reduce their 787-9 exposure until they are confident about their planned international expansion (which is what the 787-9 would help).

Or they could be deciding to retire the 767-300ERs from CityFlyer service now with new A330-200s and add JQ's to the mix later when the 787-8s arrive, but it looks like QF did this to conserve cash and not burden themselves with aircraft they cannot utilize, so I still think that A330 order won't happen.

Sydney Morning Herald Article

Gentleman Stitch is always defending the underdog. Fact remains Qatas is a key Dreamliner customer and it looks like the major driver is Qants doesn't want any Dreamliners before 2013. Apart from that their order was probably a bit large. 15 cancellations maybe is a realistic correction. Note this decision was taken BEFORE the new delay..

Now wait until defer a few A380s. That will be clear prove the A380 concept failed..

Do you think they'll do so?

I agree QF does not want any Dreamliners before 2013-2014. I also believe they do not want any A330s before then, as well. They're hurting right now financially and their traffic numbers have taken a hard hit, so not adding new planes makes sense.

If they do decide to defer some A380 deliveries, I believe it will be for the same reason as deferring the 787 - they can't use them at the moment, so they wish to save some money and defer them until they are ready to use them.

I'm inclined to think QF pushing back deliveries until both the 787-8 and 787-9 are available is QF hedging their bets. If I was Boeing, I would have offered QF the ability to decide which model they wanted as delivery times approached so QF would have maximum time to decide whether a 787-8 or a 787-9 was the right model to take at that time. If I was Boeing, I would go so far as to offer QF the option of swapping those 15 787-8s for 787-9s at no additional charge, just to show them how much I appreciate them sticking with me through all the stumbles and fumbles.