Qantas A380 reliability issues creeping up again?

[AIRwin]

BA15... plane isn't even at the gate. Towing it now... then it'll need cleaned.

But looks like the aircraft had already arrived from DXB in the morning

 

[elanshin]

I'm on BA15 instead of QF2 because of this delay. On the upside, chance to see what these sleep pods in T5 are like. Posting a review on how bloody well the Auckland team sorted this out for me last night, when I get home on Saturday. Gloria did them proud.

...and if the A380s cause hell over the busy season we might get lucky and it puts a nail in VH's coffin so there's some ACTUAL new blood and change brought in to right the Qantas ship.

That's the point of why the 380s are inconsistent and suffering right now. That in theory they dont need to be doing maintenance in summer 24/25.

Situation wiuld be very different if QF had all 10 of their a380s flying instead of 6.

 

[eastwest101]

It is nice to get notice, but it’s due to an earlier delay. This would be related to water pumps breaking down on an A380. Friends of mine were already in Singapore (having arrived on a different QF flight) when they heard their onwards flight to London would be significantly delayed.

I recall numerous times pre-Covid where the QF A380 fleet was often plagued with despatch reliability problems because of the fresh water and pump systems on-board, and the notoriously unreliable refrigeration systems on board. Given that they parked them all out in the desert and then had an interior refurbishment project in place, did no-one in Qantas think about rectifying these frequent reliability issue to fix at least the frames that were scheduled to return to service?

 

[SeatBackForward]

did no-one in Qantas think

WHAT!!!! How dare you suggest such a thing.

 

[crupp747]

I managed to snag a Classic Reward on QF11 in F in June. Hope I don't get screwed.

 

[jb747]

I recall numerous times pre-Covid where the QF A380 fleet was often plagued with despatch reliability problems because of the fresh water and pump systems on-board, and the notoriously unreliable refrigeration systems on board. Given that they parked them all out in the desert and then had an interior refurbishment project in place, did no-one in Qantas think about rectifying these frequent reliability issue to fix at least the frames that were scheduled to return to service?

I don't recall ever seeing fresh water/pump issues, but the cooling (refridgeration) loops were a bit notorious. My take is that it was an engineering overreach by AB, and it isn't something that's permanently fixable in any cost effective way.

 

[RooFlyer]

I managed to snag a Classic Reward on QF11 in F in June. Hope I don't get screwed.

Welcome to AFF @crupp747 .

Hope you have a great flight.

 

[mbell1510]

On the delayed QF2D after switching back from BA11 in the end. Was in economy and by the far the best flight down the back of the bus. Would have been about 70 people so everyone had a whole row to themselves. Economy is much more enjoyable with a 4 seat lie flat bed haha.

The A380s in economy should have had new seats installed during Covid instead of just new fabric on 15 year old planes. IFE packed it in during the flight which forced the crew to spend 90 minutes fixing it, the latches for two tray tables in my row barely kept the tables from falling down and one seat didn't recline.

 

[elanshin]

On the delayed QF2D after switching back from BA11 in the end. Was in economy and by the far the best flight down the back of the bus. Would have been about 70 people so everyone had a whole row to themselves. Economy is much more enjoyable with a 4 seat lie flat bed haha.

The A380s in economy should have had new seats installed during Covid instead of just new fabric on 15 year old planes. IFE packed it in during the flight which forced the crew to spend 90 minutes fixing it, the latches for two tray tables in my row barely kept the tables from falling down and one seat didn't recline.

With hindsight im sure they would've had the 350 seats developed and ready installed into the 380s during covid. At this point in time, not sure if QF would fo through another refresh on the 380s.

 

[jb747]

With hindsight im sure they would've had the 350 seats developed and ready installed into the 380s during covid. At this point in time, not sure if QF would fo through another refresh on the 380s.

Nothing to do with hindsight. Even knowing exactly how things would play out, Alan was NEVER going to invest anything in the 380s. Nor was he going to spend one cent on long haul, if he could possibly avoid it. He left the company, after a long tenure, having NEVER taken delivery of a single aircraft that he had ordered for long haul. Quite a record.

 

[RSD]

Nothing to do with hindsight. Even knowing exactly how things would play out, Alan was NEVER going to invest anything in the 380s. Nor was he going to spend one cent on long haul, if he could possibly avoid it. He left the company, after a long tenure, having NEVER taken delivery of a single aircraft that he had ordered for long haul. Quite a record.

That's a pretty impressive shocking record! I'm waiting for the autobiography "How I ruined one of the world's great airlines"

 

[moa999]

Not really when you consider how order happy his predecessor was.

In 2005 Dixon ordered 45 firm 787s, 20 options and 50 purchase rights (up to 115 aircraft)

In 2006 Dixon also upped the initial 12 firm 12 option A380 order to 20 firm.

From those orders you ended up with 10 788s for JQ, 14 789s for QF and 12 A380s for QF. Believe that all the remainder has date expired/ been negotiated away.

In a similar vein I doubt Vanessa Hudson will order many international aircraft in her time.

Before he left Joyce also made some pretty large orders that will stretch into the 2030s, although nothing like Dixon.

- 2022 - 12 350-1000 Sunrise aircraft from FY25
- 2023 - additional 4 789s and 8 787-10s from FY27
- 2023 - additional 12 350-1000s from FY27

 

[RooFlyer]

autobiography "How I AJ ruined one of the world's great airlines"

..by Joe Aston, coming up.

 

[jb747]

Not really when you consider how order happy his predecessor was.

In 2005 Dixon ordered 45 firm 787s, 20 options and 50 purchase rights (up to 115 aircraft)

In 2006 Dixon also upped the initial 12 firm 12 option A380 order to 20 firm.

From those orders you ended up with 10 788s for JQ, 14 789s for QF and 12 A380s for QF. Believe that all the remainder has date expired/ been negotiated away.

Orders that don’t translate into deliveries aren’t worth much to the actual airline. On a seat for seat basis, the 380s replaced the Classics, and not much beyond that. Two dozen or so 767s were retired without real replacement (I expect they were meant to be replaced by the 787s that AJ gave to Jstar). Remember the good old days, when there was an widebody on just about every domestic service. And now you struggle to find one anywhere. And the -400s disappeared, and their seats were barely replaced. Dixon’s orders made sense as it allows you to be picking up and retiring a few aircraft each year, although I wouldn’t have been ordering the 787 in any numbers at all, given the best version of the 777 was readily available at the time. And of course he retired a couple of 380s without replacement too. Everything he did was based upon dividing the staff, with no real attempt to entice passengers to actually fly with the airline. Somehow I doubt that you can beat the staff enough to make your airline successful, but it can certainly work the other way.

For what it’s worth, a 777-300 carried almost as many passengers as a -400 across the Pacific, but with a fuel burn at least 30% less.

 

[RSD]

Orders that don’t translate into deliveries aren’t worth much to the actual airline. On a seat for seat basis, the 380s replaced the Classics, and not much beyond that. Two dozen or so 767s were retired without real replacement (I expect they were meant to be replaced by the 787s that AJ gave to Jstar). Remember the good old days, when there was an widebody on just about every domestic service. And now you struggle to find one anywhere. And the -400s disappeared, and their seats were barely replaced. Dixon’s orders made sense as it allows you to be picking up and retiring a few aircraft each year, although I wouldn’t have been ordering the 787 in any numbers at all, given the best version of the 777 was readily available at the time. And of course he retired a couple of 380s without replacement too. Everything he did was based upon dividing the staff, with no real attempt to entice passengers to actually fly with the airline. Somehow I doubt that you can beat the staff enough to make your airline successful, but it can certainly work the other way.

For what it’s worth, a 777-300 carried almost as many passengers as a -400 across the Pacific, but with a fuel burn at least 30% less.

What is the way forward from here for Qantas to restore reputation, quality, service, destinations, etc. - in other words to get it back to where it used to be and belongs?

 

[jb747]

What is the way forward from here for Qantas to restore reputation, quality, service, destinations, etc. - in other words to get it back to where it used to be and belongs?

Personally, I don't think there is. It's just going to circle the drain plug, whilst CEOs various make themselves rich. Basically, I, and all of my ex-QF friends, simply believe that the airline we worked for no longer exists.

 

[jase05]

To get out of their current mess they should clean out the joint first. No good having all the current decisions makers as AJ clones and mates

 

[airlinemn]

To get out of their current mess they should clean out the joint first. No good having all the current decisions makers as AJ clones and mates

A bit of topic but ultimately Joyce did what needed to be done.

Unfortunately they couldn’t have competitive fares at their previous cost base (due to the huge increase of competition from largely government backed airlines).

 

[RSD]

A bit of topic but ultimately Joyce did what needed to be done.

Unfortunately they couldn’t have competitive fares at their previous cost base (due to the huge increase of competition from largely government backed airlines).

Qantas can no longer provide a good service and be a great representative for Australia at a price that is going to generate the good profits demanded by shareholders - or else it is going to continue to slowly wither and die.

 

[jase05]

QF could return to being a very good airline if they put the right people in charge