Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[Melburnian1]

moa999, many thanks. QF1 (A388 VH-OQA) did not depart until 1747 this evening (Tuesday 12 April), an hour and 53 late - relatively unusual for this flight. QF expects it to arrive in DXB from 0145 (80 minutes late) but has yet to publicly alter the timetabled departure of 0210 hours for LHR. Often this flight makes up some time on the run to LHR so it may arrive there before 0800 if all goes well. The previous day's QF1 gained 34 minutes on the padded schedule between DXB and LHR.

Another A388-operated long haul flight, QF8 ex DFW on Monday 11 April is also normally punctual but departed 42 minutes late with Wednesday 13 arrival expected at 0700 rather than 0605 hours.

 

[Quickstatus]

QF A388 and class leader VH-OQA is sitting visible on FR24 on the MNL tarmac so I assume it is heading for SYD tonight after maintenance at Lufthansa Technik. It appears to have just started to commence pushing back (or towing) at 2018 AEST, which if it was heading for SYD would be pointless so early in the night due to the curfew until 0600 AEST.

The fine detail of the website FR24 has a date of '7 April' for this flight so perhaps this return to operations 'ferry' movement was delayed from last Thursday. AFF member Flyerqf, could you please clarify with your usual aplomb?

Perhaps it was undergoing some ground tests that required ATC permission?

 

[katiebell]

quite a few delays exMEL on QFd. Have been told QF402 is delayed d.t. tug not being on time to get it out of the hangar

 

[Melburnian1]

For the second consecutive day, flagship QF1 has been significantly late out of SYD, with departure occurring at 1814 hours rather than 1550 on Wednesday 13 April. QF expects DXB arrival to be at 0215 hours on Thursday 14 April rather than 0025 hours. LHR will be late as well but has yet to be updated.

The Tuesday 12 departure (which as above left SYD an hour and 57 minutes late) arrived at 0852 in London, also (amazingly) an hour and 57 behind time. Normally it might pick up time but a two hour 22 minute intermediate DXB stop (compared with the timetabled allowance of an hour and 45) put paid to that.

During the past three years or so it has been unusual for QF1 to run this late two days in a row, although there will be some days that I did not monitor.

QF10 arriving in MEL on 13 April is half an hour late which will mean at least a minor delay to tonight's 2255 hours QF9 as an hour and a half to turnaround a QF A388 would be better than the observed best of an hour and 38.

 

[katiebell]

quite a few delays exMEL on QFd. Have been told QF402 is delayed d.t. tug not being on time to get it out of the hangar

The captain updated the reason for the delay: a prang in the hangar overnight made the aircraft US and a replacement had to be found

 

[Melburnian1]

Thursday 14 April's QF1519 (1130 SYD short hop down to CBR) has been cancelled.

 

[jb747]

Perhaps it was undergoing some ground tests that required ATC permission?

Manila operations are very restrictive. There can only be one A380 on the ground at a time. It must be the last aircraft to arrive or depart at the start of the curfew (around 00:30 local).

 

[Melburnian1]

Manila operations are very restrictive. There can only be one A380 on the ground at a time. It must be the last aircraft to arrive or depart at the start of the curfew (around 00:30 local).

This is not the first time that you have mentioned the 'Manila curfew.'

I have not seen this referred to elsewhere. There are many passenger flights taking off and landing in the 'small hours' such as 0400 and so on as traffic growth at this airport in the past decade has been high. I have been on an A333 flight that took off past 0030 hours, at about 0100 hours.

Does this 'curfew' of which you speak apply only to larger aircraft than A333s? Where is it set down in writing?

 

[Flyerqf]

Wednesday's QF28 has been delayed until early Friday morning.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Wednesday 13 April QF94 from LAX (due out at 2215 hours) departed almost two hours late at 0008 on Thursday 14 (today) and hence should arrive in MEL at about 0820 on Friday 15 April instead of 0700.

As a result QF93 (0915 hours MEL - LAX) is suggested as departing an hour late on Friday 15 April.

As Flyerqf points out, the Wednesday 13 QF28 B744 should depart SCL in South America at 0700 on Friday 15 instead of 1430 hours mid-afternoon on Wednesday, with arrival in SYD expected at 0950 on Saturday 16 instead of 1745 on Thursday, a delay of 40 hours and five minutes. No further flights at this stage to HKG, HND, JNB, LAX or SCL (the solely or partly B744 routes from SYD, plus BNE or MEL - LAX) are publicly showing as delayed at this stage despite the prolonged 'stranding' of this B744 in Chile, alrthough QF127 from SYD to HKG appears to have been downgraded to an A333 tomorrow morning (Friday 15 May) with a 10 minute longer flight time than is usual for this flight.

Reports as to whether if both SYD - HKG flights have few or no seats available tomorrow due to the apparent reduction in capacity of QF127 and if so whether as a result anyone is not carried as previously booked would be welcome.

 

[OATEK]

The Wednesday 13 April QF94 from LAX (due out at 2215 hours) departed almost two hours late at 0008 on Thursday 14 (today) and hence should arrive in MEL at about 0820 on Friday 15 April instead of 0700.

As a result QF93 (0915 hours MEL - LAX) is suggested as departing an hour late on Friday 15 April.

As Flyerqf points out, the Wednesday 13 QF28 B744 should depart SCL in South America at 0700 on Friday 15 instead of 1430 hours mid-afternoon on Wednesday, with arrival in SYD expected at 0950 on Saturday 16 instead of 1745 on Thursday, a delay of 40 hours and five minutes. No further flights at this stage to HKG, HND, JNB, LAX or SCL (the solely or partly B744 routes from SYD, plus BNE or MEL - LAX) are publicly showing as delayed at this stage despite the prolonged 'stranding' of this B744 in Chile, alrthough QF127 from SYD to HKG appears to have been downgraded to an A333 tomorrow morning (Friday 15 May) with a 10 minute longer flight time than is usual for this flight.

Reports as to whether if both SYD - HKG flights have few or no seats available tomorrow due to the apparent reduction in capacity of QF127 and if so whether as a result anyone is not carried as previously booked would be welcome.

Still a few unallocated seats showing up on EF for today's QF127, so probably not too full. No seats in Y+ for tomorrow's flight, where some of today's pax may finish up. This where the Y+ pax lose out by QF's decision not to provide on the A330s. But at least its the new fitout J.

 

[Melburnian1]

Fog was predicted for this morning in CBR - Friday 15 April. QF1511, the 0620 hours from SYD to CBR was cancelled. QF1461, the 0650 hours following flight has been delayed to a departure time of 0810 while QF1463, the 0730, is also expected to push back at 0810 hours.

QF408 (0700 hours MEL - SYD) was also cancelled.

QF1583, the 0920 hours SYD - HBA will depart at 0950 hours while north a couple of thousand kilometres, QF643, the 0930 hours flight from BNE south down to MEL is also cancelled, as is QF2454, the 0940 BNE to mining town MOV.

 

[Himeno]

This is not the first time that you have mentioned the 'Manila curfew.'

I have not seen this referred to elsewhere. There are many passenger flights taking off and landing in the 'small hours' such as 0400 and so on as traffic growth at this airport in the past decade has been high. I have been on an A333 flight that took off past 0030 hours, at about 0100 hours.

Does this 'curfew' of which you speak apply only to larger aircraft than A333s? Where is it set down in writing?

I couldn't find anything about a curfew in MNL, though I did find info that they can't take regular A380 flights due to airfield spacing between taxiways and runways which would prevent a widebody using a neighbouring taxiway while an A380 is nearby. It appears that almost all A380s MNL sees are on their way to/from Lufthansa Technik. Given the disruption to airport operations that an A380 would cause, it is quite reasonable to limit their operation to times there are not as many flights.

 

[Melburnian1]

Thank you Himeno. Interesting.

While this thread is about QF delays and cancellations and we don't want to get too sidetracked, I wonder if MNL is the only international airport that is regularly visited by A380s - albeit in its case normally not carrying passengers - and that has these sort of movement restrictions in place?

 

[Melburnian1]

The anticipated delay to the SYD - HBA 0920 hours departure, QF1583, has now extended to beyond the revised publicly displayed time of 1040 hours.

QF2164, the 0830 hours SYD to PQQ did not push back until 0956 with arrival expected (though not yet confirmed) at 1045, 70 minutes behind time.

QF11, the A388-operated 0950 hours SYD to LAX on Friday 15 April did not depart until 1033 but is expected to only be 20 minutes late (same day - 0650 hours) in arriving.

Weather in CBR (presumably fog) has also seen the cancellation of the 1000 ex SYD, QF1471. Later, the 1130 SYD - CBR, QF1519 is also cancelled so this is a morning when for some passengers (it being a bit of a 'lottery') it would have been better to take the NSWTrainLink train or drive.

QF2262 (1025 SYD to offshore LDH) is delayed until 1055 in its pushback.

The super longhaul QF63, SYD to JNB and normally due out at 1050 is delayed until 1140 in departing although at this stage QF suggests that arrival will only be 10 minutes down at 1720 same day local time in South Africa. As always, it is prudent to wait until after takeoff for a more accurate reading as how long taxiing and a possible 'hold' on the assigned runway take is not something that airlines can accurately estimate to the last minute prior to the event occurring.

One of our esteemed contributors once likened airport operations (which in the particular case referred to was about approaching an airfield) as similar to a game of chess, a good analogy. The way aircraft 'move' on sites like FlightRadar24 looks much like chess pieces.

UPDATE: The 0920 SYD to HBA (QF1583) did not depart until 1128, with arrival expected at 1316, an hour and 56 late.

QF431, the 'high noon' departure from SYD to MEL is showing as delayed until 1230 but that time has passed.

 

[Melburnian1]

Cancellations and delays continue on the afternoon of Friday 15 April on the SYD - CBR route due to this morning's fog. QF1421, the 1440 hours SYD to CBR, has been cancelled while QF1515, the 1520 hours scheduled departure has been altered to a 1600 pushback.

Further north, QF2340, the 1445 hours BNE to GLT has also been cancelled.

QF2030 (1530 hours mid afternoon SYD - ARM) is delayed in its departure by an expected hour.

Things can change if a plane is defective very quickly. This morning, all was going well on QF's often delay-prone MEL - HBA - MEL route. QF1501, the 0815 hours from MEL pushed back six minutes early and pulled into HBA 14 minutes early at 0916, a creditable performance.

Unfortunately it has not been as smooth sailing this afternoon.

QF1507 (1515 MEL B717 flight to HBA) will instead depart at 1605 due to the northbound 1200 HBA to MEL, QF1504, departing more than two hours late at 1411 this afternoon and forecast arrival at 1528 being two hours and 13 minutes late behind schedule.

Southbound, the 1355 hours MEL to HBA, QF1505 departed at 1450 and should arrive in the Apple Isle capital at 1556, 46 minutes late.

QF1506, the 1550 HBA to MEL is suggested as departing at 1636, similarly 46 minutes late, while QF1508 is anticipated to be delayed by half an hour to 1740 in its departure.

QF450, the 1630 hours peak hour MEL to SYD is cancelled as are QF463 and QF467, the 1830 and 1930 hours SYD back to MEL. It is not school holidays in Victoria any longer and on a Friday night cancelling two southbound flights on a top five worldwide for patronage air route again begs the question: how does QF 'accommodate' these potentially hundreds of 'bumped' passengers onto other flights if the latter do not have many seats unbooked? Information from AFF members as to whether they were seamlessly moved onto other flights departing close to the originally booked time is always useful.

The 1745 hours MEL to CBR, QF1536 is delayed until 1930 in its forecast pushback.

Earlier today, due to the late arrival of QF94, the 0915 hours MEL to LAX QF93 departed at 1124 with same day arrival suggested as 0830 instead of 0635.

QF1578 from SYD to MCY should depart at 1830 instead of 1725 while QF1525, the 1840 hours SYD to CBR will instead depart at 1930. Quite often if there is fog in CBR that affects flights from say 0730 to around 1030, by the afternoon QF (and competitors) have reduced or eliminated delays by cancelling a couple of flights. The latter has occurred today but flights are still substantially behind schedule.

 

[Melburnian1]

Saturday 16 April sees QF1467, the 0900 SYD to CBR, cancelled.

QF1477, the 1155 SYD - CBR departed at 1329 with arrival expected at 1324, also 34 minutes late.

The many times longer flight from SYD to SCL, QF27, is expected to depart 50 minutes late at 1320 hours this afternoon.

UPDATE: QF19 (1210 hours SYD to MNL) is delayed until 1300 hours.

QF7, the super longhaul A388 from SYD to DFW is forecast to depart at 1400, an hour late.

 

[clazman]

QF 93 Melbourne to Lax on Sunday delayed by 3 hours

 

[Melburnian1]

The Friday 2320 hours QF16 from LAX departed at 0019 on Saturday 16 April, meaning a BNE arrival at 0650, 40 minutes late, on Sunday 17.

The delay to QF93 on Sunday 17 April is because the Friday 15 April QF94 was delayed from a 2215 hours departure at LAX to 0047 on Saturday 16, meaning likely MEL Sunday 17 arrival at 0930, two and a half hours late.

Good news for clazman with the forecast delay in departure for QF93 on Sunday 17 reducing to two and a quarter hours late - 1130 instead of 0915 hours - with arrival slated for 0830 instead of 0635, same day, so a little bit of time should be picked up on the way. It all helps to assist with connections that can be stressful enough as it is, especially for first time international flyers or users of LAX, or those like the elderly and mothers with young children.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Sunday 17 April, QF17, the late afternoon (1740 hours) B744 from SYD to LAX is expected to depart at 2000 with same day arrival of 1610 to be an expected hour and 55 minutes behind time. I cannot see any obvious reason for this expected delay as QF63 from JNB is running 20 minutes early.

QF23 from SYD to BKK departed at 1040, 50 minutes late but some time should be gained en route with arrival half an hour late at 1710 expected.

QF117 (1115 SYD - HKG) did not depart until 1207 with arrival suggested as 45 minutes late at 1925 this evening local time.

QF2423 (1455 hours SYD north to NTL) was cancelled. Part of the roof at NTL airport (owned by the local council) collapsed due to a storm and so the airport has been closed.