Qantas A380 refurbishment news and updates

[RichardMEL]

Oh so all the QF A380s have upgraded premium cabins now?

Yes.

 

[RooFlyer]

Article about the oldest double-decker still flying. (Oldest anywhere).

16+ Years: Qantas’ Oldest Airbus A380 Returns To Service

 

[moa999]

As one returns, another one goes - OQH left for AUH yesterday so still only 6 active.

And OQH back into service, replaced by OQB.

So in AUH - OQB, OQC, OQK, OQL

 

[RSD]

And OQH back into service, replaced by OQB.

So in AUH - OQB, OQC, OQK, OQL

We are never going to have many A380's on the OZ-USA routes at this rate!

 

[RooFlyer]

Is AUH the only place where A380 'maintenance' can be done? I thought it was only for the very heavy stuff.

Can't cabin upgrades be done somewhere else?

 

[Himeno]

Is AUH the only place where A380 'maintenance' can be done? I thought it was only for the very heavy stuff.

Can't cabin upgrades be done somewhere else?

They can do the this sort of maintenance elsewhere, it depends who has the contract.
They used to send the A380s to Lufthansa Technik in MNL (and sometimes Germany).

 

[muppet]

And OQH back into service, replaced by OQB.

So in AUH - OQB, OQC, OQK, OQL

QF was always quick to publish the ongoing savings from sacking its local maintenance crew and outsourcing …. I’d love to know the lost profit from having 4 A380s sitting in Abu Dhabi for years during the largest growth in travel and airfares for decades.

 

[moa999]

Qantas never had A380 major maintenance done onshore.. a fleet of 10/12 simply wouldn't justify the investment in the hangars etc.

Plenty of minor maintenance and line checks will still be done here.

And at this time of the year (generally a slow point for Aussies travelling) you'd expect 2/3 A380s in for medium/heavy maintenance.

Plus global air travel has only just surpassed (in Q1 2024) 2019 levels - it's actually a massive dip then rebound, but minimal net growth in 5yrs.

 

[elanshin]

Is AUH the only place where A380 'maintenance' can be done? I thought it was only for the very heavy stuff.

Can't cabin upgrades be done somewhere else?

Do they still have their a380 facility at LAX? I thought that was one place they used to do minor maintenance between flights.

Perhaps they're trying to get all sorts of bigger maintenance items ticked off so that by the next summer season they won't need to do anything.

 

[RooFlyer]

They used to send the A380s to Lufthansa Technik in MNL (and sometimes Germany).

at some stage they did some maintenance in Sydney in their own shop, didn’t they?

 

[Himeno]

at some stage they did some maintenance in Sydney in their own shop, didn’t they?

For the 380s? No, QF has only ever done minor work/line maintenance in Australia. They never got the equipment needed to do the heavy work because their initial firm order of 8 aircraft (later expanded to 12 with the final 8 options never taken up) wasn't enough to justify the expense of setting up a heavy A380 workshop in Australia (as they did for A330s and 747s at BNE and AVV).
They did some of the longer work at the LAX hanger, but that was only the stuff they could get done in the 8-16 hours between flights, when they arrived in LA early morning and departed late night.

 

[Himeno]

Do they still have their a380 facility at LAX? I thought that was one place they used to do minor maintenance between flights.

QF signed a 20 year lease for the LAX hangar site which opened in 2017. Unless LAWA changed the agreement, they should still have the hangar operational.

 

[RichardMEL]

QF used to run some 380s through DRS iirc (Dresden)

As for the LAX hangar.. yeah they only do more basic maintenance there. A checks.. maybe B? Unsure on that. Nothing more.

Here is a recent video on the ops there

 

[Ansett]

I was on OQH last Night QF 94 LAX-MEL in F and have to say it was a very pleasant experience.

 

[RooFlyer]

For the 380s?

I was thinking like cabin refurbs but I guess they need a hanger for that too.
I guess Qantas would be as frustrated as anyone but it does seem a huge bite out of their capacity spanning years now.
With the two that were parked outside at AUH for those I think two years, surely it wasn’t the case of AUH saying "we’ve got the contract you can’t take them anywhere else but you’ll just have to wait till we get around to it?"

 

[elanshin]

I was thinking like cabin refurbs but I guess they need a hanger for that too.
I guess Qantas would be as frustrated as anyone but it does seem a huge bite out of their capacity spanning years now.
With the two that were parked outside at AUH for those I think two years, surely it wasn’t the case of AUH saying "we’ve got the contract you can’t take them anywhere else but you’ll just have to wait till we get around to it?"

Given the 380s were for the most part globally all stowed during covid and almost every airline suddenly needed then back (even Lufthansa who was set on retiring them did a 180 and decided to bring them back for a while), i imagine the conversation went something along the lines of -

"Ok we'll get it done at AUH since they don't seem to be in a rush to bring their 380s back. "
"EY prioritising their own planes.... What about other centres? They're all prioritising their own planes? Uhhhh....."

I think we did see one of the 380s post covid goto DRS for some maintenance for a bit.

It could just be that AUH is offering it cheaper and right now the timeline at AUH is satisfactory for QF.

 

[RooFlyer]

"Ok we'll get it done at AUH since they don't seem to be in a rush to bring their 380s back. "
"EY prioritising their own planes.... What about other centres? They're all prioritising their own planes? Uhhhh....."

... "Maybe we should have negotiated a contract so we won't get screwed"

 

[RSVKanga]

Any update on VH-OQC? It's been sitting on the ground in the UAE for 3 years now - does it have old or new interiors?

 

[moa999]

Digging back to early posts. It has never flown in a refurbed config. So suspect it needs both refurb and return to service inspections, and probably gear replacement.. but I don't think anyone here knows what has hasn't been done

 

[elanshin]

Any update on VH-OQC? It's been sitting on the ground in the UAE for 3 years now - does it have old or new interiors?

The 3 years means nothing really. It was behind thr queue nand OQa only just finished .
Given OQA only came back just over a month ago or so, I'd say they probably barely got started (if even. They may have put the other 2 in the shop first as it likely wouldn't take as long.
The 3 years means nothing really. It was behind thr queue nand OQa only just finished