Qantas A380 refurbishment news and updates

[elanshin]

Mostly technological. But also thr jarring nature of a refurbishment coming out in 2026 alongside their a350 F.

But yes if they intend to fly longer, the least they need to do is the a330 treatment where Y all gets upgrades. But then if you do that PE is going to be in an awkward spot. Arguably worse than the extra leg space Y seats.

And as i mentioned, it should be a flag to QF if every other major current a380 operator is going through a refurbishment indicating their perception that the a380 will fly well onto the 2030s.

Will QF ditch the a380 when the whole a350-1000 come along or turn it into more complimentary services.

I still think there are key trunk routes that the a380 would be suitable for even with the a350 arrival. Just perhaps not a fleet of 10.

 

[RSD]

Time to start scouting the second hand market for more A380s to expand the fleet.

Very hard to predict what the capacity needs are going to be in the future, but something larger than an A330 on the Hong Kong runs would be good!

 

[Himeno]

but something larger than an A330 on the Hong Kong runs would be good!

Same for HND, if they can work out the schedule problems A380 operation at HND presents.

 

[RSD]

Same for HND, if they can work out the schedule problems A380 operation at HND presents.

Would HND be keen for A380's given the lack of space there?

 

[Himeno]

Would HND be keen for A380's given the lack of space there?

There are 2 gates at HND T3 which have 3 jet bridges for A380s (had been 3 gates prior to covid).
They only allow 1 A380 on the ground at a time, and only during the night slot period. QF could run an A380 there, but it would have to arrive, be serviced and depart again between 10pm and 6am.

eg, they could run a day flight north, arrive at 10pm and depart back to Australia at midnight. But they don't seem to like having SYD-HND day flights, and they don't appear to want to have a MEL-HND A380.
Other option is to arrive around 4am (like the 747 QF25), then depart just before 6, but then that leads to the problems with early morning ground travel to HND as with a 6am departure, people would need to check in by ~4.30am, and the trains don't start until 5.

 

[RSD]

There are 2 gates at HND T3 which have 3 jet bridges for A380s (had been 3 gates prior to covid).
They only allow 1 A380 on the ground at a time, and only during the night slot period. QF could run an A380 there, but it would have to arrive, be serviced and depart again between 10pm and 6am.

eg, they could run a day flight north, arrive at 10pm and depart back to Australia at midnight. But they don't seem to like having SYD-HND day flights, and they don't appear to want to have a MEL-HND A380.
Other option is to arrive around 4am (like the 747 QF25), then depart just before 6, but then that leads to the problems with early morning ground travel to HND as with a 6am departure, people would need to check in by ~4.30am, and the trains don't start until 5.

Starting to sound like it might be in the too hard basket...

 

[D747]

I see VH-OQK has popped up on FR24 as "On ground at AUH" in the last few days. Should we be getting excited?

 

[D747]

I see VH-OQK has popped up on FR24 as "On ground at AUH" in the last few days. Should we be getting excited?

I guess not