Qantas A380 refurbishment news and updates

[p--and--t]

I would have said subjective not objective.

Objective is right.

Meal service is slow. Cabin seating is behind competitors in terms of innovation. There was little innovation in the design of the A380 cabin. B747 cabins were left to run down. Upgrades to the a330 fleet took around 7 years from the time of announcement, and the product is already 2nd generation (the same seats are currently being installed on other airlines but with doors). Skybeds suffer from significant droop. Customers are not given the same level of choice to tailor their onboard experience as they get with other airlines (for example cafe breakfasts and no hot choices on flights into Australia).

All those are objective.

possibly subjectively, there won’t be many that disagree that a major issue with QF cabin crew service is inconsistency. Some great crew members. Some not. I guess the subjective bit is whether QF crews have greater inconsistency than other airlines.

Again subjective on almost every point. But we digress.

Merely commenting from a grammar perspective, from the dictionary:
Subjective - " based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions."

Opinions are always subjective.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Exactly right... all the things i mentioned are fact.... measurable, and verifiable/comparable against multiple data points.

 

[ajw373]

Exactly right... all the things i mentioned are fact.... measurable, and verifiable/comparable against multiple data points.

Actually think the poster might have been more agreeing with me.

Your personal opinions and experiences even if they are back up by others are still subjective.
Even things like the A330 upgrade whilst the length of time that took is a fact whether that is unacceptable is opinion and therefore still subjective.

And getting back to topic your opinion is Qantas may struggle to fill A380’s in the future and hence their existence is doomed. But you base this on experiences of a A business class seat product that now doesn’t exist in half the fleet. And that product prior to Covid and the first upgrades was already competing transpacific against other airlines like UA/VA/DH/AA and to London against a zillion other airlines and still managed to have bums on seats.

Now what is objective is prior to Covid Qantas was making money and they were making money by having customers that were making a choice to fly Qantas.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have actually been advocating that airlines should think outside the box, and could perhaps even make use of aircraft the size of the a380 to provide for social distancing. I made the point that instead of a $1200 fare to london, we could have $1800 and have 50% more room. Lots of options to think outside the box. We already know that the DFW flight is weight restricted and can make a profit, so why not put all those unsold seats to use and reconfigure your cabin?

That sort of brought me round to the discussion on whether or not there is an appetite for innovation or thinking outside the box given QF’s previous track record.

 

[NickCorr]

So which would be cheaper to operate... Full hold, light passenger load, AUS to UK. A380 with leasing payments, vs. owned 747?

I do like MEL_Traveller's idea of light passenger loads in a big plane... On a 24 hour flight I have generally been more happy with a spare seat next to me, vs an extra legroom one...

 

[RAM]

So which would be cheaper to operate... Full hold, light passenger load, AUS to UK. A380 with leasing payments, vs. owned 747?

I do like MEL_Traveller's idea of light passenger loads in a big plane... On a 24 hour flight I have generally been more happy with a spare seat next to me, vs an extra legroom one...

No simple answer, basicly a linear programming exercise based on massive range of factors such as:

• Mix & number of F vs J vs Y passengers & price respectively
• Fuel cost per litre
• Airport charges
• Amount of 'other cargo' likely to be carried (A380 has less 'other cargo capacity than B747 generally due to A380-800 designed with all structural requirements for both the cancelled -900 & -1000 models)
• Marginal maintenance cost per operating hour (younger A380s vs older B747s, Airbus costs vs Boeing)
• Crew costs
• Overhead costs per flight hour

and likely another dozen or so variables

 

[DC3]

.... I do like MEL_Traveller's idea of light passenger loads in a big plane... On a 24 hour flight I have generally been more happy with a spare seat next to me, vs an extra legroom one...

Many of us would probably vote for that.

 

[ajw373]

So which would be cheaper to operate... Full hold, light passenger load, AUS to UK. A380 with leasing payments, vs. owned 747?

Whilst the Qantas A380’s are considered leased, the planes are really under a finance style of lease, similar to hire purchase in car terms. The point being is unlike a wet or dry lease cancelling the lease is nowhere near as simple and would involve fiscal penalty such the bank won’t loose.

So they are paying that lease/hire purchase cost regardless of if they are flying or grounded.

 

[Berlin]

I don't think we will ever see the Skybeds again.
332/333/787 all suites
Half the 380s suites (and even they might not come back)

Cough cough, “suites”, cough cough. And I’m someone who usually rather quite likes Qantas’ long haul product.

But “suites” is total Qantas marketing-nonsense: Qatar has”suites” on some of their planes. Qantas, however, has pretty stock standard staggered seating in their better J class config.

 

[moa999]

So with today's announcement it seems Qantas will complete the refurb on ten aircraft and two will be retired.

Reposing my last post on the matter.

So that gives 6 refurbs - OQD, OQG, OQH, OQI, OQJ, OQK
Of the refurbs OQH and OQI still have the 2007 Roo livery along with OQE.

Interestingly the youngest A380 OQL is in the old config.

And more recently we've seen OQB fly to DRS (19 Aug) and OQC fly to AUH (20 Jun) - so likely those will be refurbed after other work.

You'd think the youngest OQL will also be refurbed.

Which then leaves OQA, OQD and OQE as the possible retirements.
Even though it's got low hours, I'd be thinking OQA (NBW) might be on this list.

 

[cpatters]

My guess is OQA & OQE to be retired

 

[NSun]

My guess is OQA & OQE to be retired

Would seem logical. I sure hope it's not OQJ because it's the only A380 I haven't been on (OQE was the 2nd last but just snuck it in on my last pre-COVID trip in early March given to Singapore). But given it's been refurbished and repainted it'll probably be one of the five coming back first.

I wonder where and when Qantas will arrange repainting of OQH and OQI if at all. If I recall correctly Qantas sent the first few to AUH for repainting then sent one or two to Busan in Korea in 2019.

 

[cpatters]

I'm sure they will be repainted at somestage. I think there is a painting facility at Victorville so possibly there before resuming service??

 

[OATEK]

My guess is OQA & OQE to be retired

I wondered if OQA might be one given the damage repairs several years ago might be seen as a higher risk of something emerging over the remaining life of the aircraft. If that is the case would like to see NBW name carried by a new aircraft such as project sunrise acquisition.

 

[jb747]

I wondered if OQA might be one given the damage repairs several years ago might be seen as a higher risk of something emerging over the remaining life of the aircraft. If that is the case would like to see NBW name carried by a new aircraft such as project sunrise acquisition.

You don't need to worry about anything from the repair. It was all taken to manufacturing junctions, so effectively as it came from the factory. What might mark it though, is simply the fact that it's from very early in the production run.

 

[PineappleSkip]

So with today's announcement it seems Qantas will complete the refurb on ten aircraft

My recent dream on another thread is 80% realised

Cheers skip

 

[Kendall Roy]

I wondered if OQA might be one given the damage repairs several years ago might be seen as a higher risk of something emerging over the remaining life of the aircraft. If that is the case would like to see NBW name carried by a new aircraft such as project sunrise acquisition.

Any chance OQA will get preserved somewhere? I know room is a little tight at YWOL

 

[Jacques Vert]

Any chance OQA will get preserved somewhere? I know room is a little tight at YWOL

I'm sure they would make room if it was offered (assuming they could land it there).

 

[Quickstatus]

You guys are a bunch of hoarders

 

[jakeseven7]

They should park one at Barangaroo or something as a tourist attraction. That’s full of massive man made structures! The wind tunnels might even lift it now and then for fun and giggles!