Qantas A380 refurbishment news and updates

[RB001]

VH-OQD will be back in the morning after a 5 week staycay in AUH

QF6014 (QFA6014) Qantas Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware

Track Qantas (QF) #6014 flight from Abu Dhabi Int'l to Sydney

www.flightaware.com

The same OQD that we waved to on the 23rd?

 

[markis10]

Make that a 7 day staycay

 

[markis10]

Staycay extended by a day, leaving in a few hours

 

[D747]

Staycay extended by a day, leaving in a few hours

VH-OQD now Airborne - Arr: SYD 0817

 

[RB001]

OQD is back; a little late, but the roo is still on the tail...
Would have got a shot whilst passing through Sydenham, but my train was running on time.

 

[moa999]

Looks like OQI is off for maintenance as QF6021.

Seemingly heading to DRS rather than AUH to join Global Aviation's A380 (ex CZ).

Global Airlines Airbus A380 Completes Engine Testing: Service Set To Launch This Year

Global Airlines and EFW are continuing to progress with the maintenance of the airline's first Airbus A380.

simpleflying.com

At some point OQI also needs the new livery being still into he old. OQF (now scrapped) was the first repaint back in 2018.

 

[moa999]

Nice video of OQI landing in snowy DRS.
Even got a comment from the captain.

 

[markis10]

Won’t be repainted in DRS

 

[moa999]

Won’t be repainted in DRS

Yep. Not many A380 sized paint shops. Think the others have been repainted mostly in DXB (ed AUH)

 

[markis10]

Yep. Not many A380 sized paint shops. Think the others have been repainted mostly in DXB.

PUS and AUH have the paint shops

 

[mrflyby]

Interesting. OQC and OQL also have their logo removed on Flightradar, same as the 2 deregistered scrapped ones.

Does this mean that QF has decided not to refurbish these 2 and scrap them as well? It contradicts previous statements??

 

[markis10]

Means FR24 have determined these aircraft to be in storage, nothing else, OQL is due back in a few months, OQC next year should the wing spar corrosion be fixable economically.

 

[mrflyby]

Good to know. FR24 didn't do that to them while they were all in storage for COVID. Only now seemed strange.

 

[moa999]

Presumably applying some filter based on number of days without moving.
Notably OQI which has been in DRS for almost a week still has the logo.

 

[mrflyby]

Presumably applying some filter based on number of days without moving.
Notably OQI which has been in DRS for almost a week still has the logo.

No. All the planes in storage for the couple of years they were kept their logos. Only oqe and oqf lost their logos when deregistered.
OQC hasn't had any activity since 2021 and only now loses its logo.
Unless FR24 has changed their policies on how they show active or inactive planes. It seems a rather unusual method of showing an inactive plane to remove it's logo.

 

[mrflyby]

Here you go for comparison.
Etihad's A380 fleet. A6-APD and APE are both parked and not brought back to service.
APE hasn't flown since September 2024 but is still showing normally on FR24.
I'm wondering if QF decided to also scrap OQC (which could make sense given its issues and the condition if it hasn't flown since arriving in AUH in 2021.
More surprised about OQL though if that's the case.

 

[moa999]

Unless FR24 has changed their policies

Far more likely imho.

 

[moa999]

And OQI has flown DRS-LHR after a bit under a month.
Post on airliners.net says it will swap with OQJ which is also in London (and this has occured with OQJ now at DRS)