Qantas A380 refurbishment news and updates

[moa999]

VH-OQJ heading home from AUH as QF6010

 

[KSC]

VH-OQJ heading home from AUH as QF6010

Which state is home moa999 ?

 

[Brettmcg]

VH-OQJ heading home from AUH as QF6010

Looks, at this stage, like its first revenue flight in the A380Q configuration will be 12DEC20 as QF11 SYDLAX.

VH-OQK the first A380Q is operating QF7 SYDDFW today (11DEC20).

 

[moa999]

Was referring to Australia as home generally. Flightaware shows due into SYD at 2005.

 

[Brettmcg]

On a separate note, QF have been having massive issues with the IFE in Y post refurb. Apparently the original Panasonic screens in the Y cabin struggle to cope with the new IFE software, causing crashes and spontaneous reboots.

OBMs have even been instructed to refrain from making PAs within 10 sec of each other to prevent the system from crashing.

 

[jase05]

I’ve seen that next year SYD-DFW has gained an extra service and will be daily. Any idea where or what route that aircraft is coming from or is it just a case of all the A380’s being back in service?

 

[Brettmcg]

I’ve seen that next year SYD-DFW has gained an extra service and will be daily. Any idea where or what route that aircraft is coming from or is it just a case of all the A380’s being back in service?

Qantas Airways from late-June 2020 plans to increase Sydney – Dallas/Ft. Worth service, with the addition of 7th weekly flight, subject to Government Approval. The new flight operates on Tuesdays with Airbus A380, effective 30JUN20.

QF007 SYD1235 – 1300DFW 388 D
QF008 DFW2215 – 0615+2SYD 388 2
QF008 DFW2225 – 0625+2SYD 388 x2

Separately, the airline’s planned Brisbane – Chicago O’Hare 4 weekly service on board Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, is now scheduled to commence on 15APR20, instead of 20APR20.

 

[moa999]

Being June start I highly doubt all the refurbs will be complete by then, given they seemingly take two months each, and the next refurb won't commence until mid-Feb with 9 left.

More likely just higher utilisation (which obviously brings greater delay risks if things go wrong)

 

[Daver6]

OBMs have even been instructed to refrain from making PAs within 10 sec of each other.

Sounds like a great rule to implement regardless of IFE issues

 

[kpro]

The IFE issue is interesting - why is it occuring on the A380's and not the A330's which also have the older Panasonic ex2 screens in Y. Isn't it essentially the same setup on some of these A330-220's with ex3 head end and the new software running on the ex2 screens? All I can think of is the number of economy seats is significantly greater.

 

[moa999]

Can't imagine it will be the screens themselves, rather the power of the computer in the boxes.
Maybe they are now pushing a FullHD signal to them and the 10yo boxes can't handle it..

 

[kpro]

I'm no expert in IFE system's, but I would've thought the seat box and screen would be highly integrated - and both A330-200 and A380's were based on the Panasonic ex2 system at the time of initial integration. Both aircraft were (are being) upgraded in a similar fashion in regards to IFE (old ex2 in Y with new server/head end and seat software). But we don't hear of any issues with the A330-200 aircraft.

Did Panasonic sell differently spec'd ex2 units on the seat side of things? I know monitor sizes differed, but did CPU/RAM differ as well?

 

[moa999]

I'd think screens are relatively off the shelf parts similar to a laptop touchscreen, just in a customised fitting.

Given how quickly chip power and power efficiency has increased am surprised replacing the boxes wasn't cost effective just for the power savings.

(In the consumer world you can get $50 fanless pucks that would happily stream to multiple 4K screens and use very little power. No doubt a bit more for something aircraft ready, but I'm sure costs would have come down substantially.

 

[kpro]

The entire system comes as a set from Panasonic Avionics. The A380's and A330-200's originally had ex2 for head end/server and seat screen/computer. Qantas upgraded this to ex3 head end/server, but they kept the in-seat electronics the same in Economy. Essentially the 'computer' in each Economy seat should be the same between the upgraded A330-200's and the upgraded A380's.

It's likely Panasonic don't offer the in-seat computer to be upgraded to ex3 without the new screens as well, and hence Qantas deemed the whole fit out to not be cost effective for Y. To change the screen would at minimum require re-work of the seat back. Also unknown is whether the wiring would also need changing. Special hardware for avionics purposes is not as cheap as consumer stuff - a big reason why Qantas went with iPad's in economy for the A330-200 fleet without existing IFE.

Panasonic ex2 marketing brochure - Wayback Machine
Panasonic ex systems - System Configurations

 

[Mrmaxwell]

hence Qantas deemed the whole fit out to not be cost effective for Y

It certainly won't be cost effective if the IFE system crashes for the next ten years across the fleet of a380s - lots of FF points as compensation!

 

[ajw373]

Looks, at this stage, like its first revenue flight in the A380Q configuration will be 12DEC20 as QF11 SYDLAX.

VH-OQK the first A380Q is operating QF7 SYDDFW today (11DEC20).

Looks, at this stage, like its first revenue flight in the A380Q configuration will be 12DEC20 as QF11 SYDLAX.

VH-OQK the first A380Q is operating QF7 SYDDFW today (11DEC20).

Thought OQJ was in AUT for maintenance not refurb. The refurbs are being done in Dresden.

And speaking of Dresden OQH which has been there the best part of 2 months had a test flight yesterday so I would expect it will soon make its way to London to operate back to Aus all refurbished.

 

[milehighclub]

Thought OQJ was in AUT for maintenance not refurb. The refurbs are being done in Dresden.

Refurbs are been done in both.

 

[ajw373]

Refurbs are been done in both.

First time I’ve seen that mentioned. AUH has only ever been mentioned in relation to heavy maintenance not cabin refurb.

 

[Brettmcg]

Thought OQJ was in AUT for maintenance not refurb. The refurbs are being done in Dresden.

And speaking of Dresden OQH which has been there the best part of 2 months had a test flight yesterday so I would expect it will soon make its way to London to operate back to Aus all refurbished.

Refurbs are definitely being done in both locations. I've seen the internal QF documents confirming this.

 

[ajw373]

I

Refurbs are definitely being done in both locations. I've seen the internal QF documents confirming this.

It would make sense that if you are doing a D check you may as well do the refurb at the same time.
I was just surprised as if not seen AUH mentioned before now in relation to refurbs. Also explains how they will have 3 done by Christmas.