Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[Melburnian1]

QF35, the 1210 hours lunchtime 1 February MEL - SIN is expected to depart 35 minutes behind time with arrival 1745, 40 late....

This flight has A388 VH-OQA that came in on QF94. AS 'the 35', it pushed back in MEL at 1328 hours with suggested SIN arrival becoming 1812 hours, 67 minutes behind schedule.

 

[Melburnian1]

It is awaiting the inbound positioning flight QF6006 that was due to leave MEL at 1130 and still hasn’t departed yet. QF7 has now been delayed further to 1900.

The empty flight, QF6006 (A388 VH-OQE) took off from MEL at 1545 so arrival in SYD should be around the 1655 hours mark, in sufficient time - in theory- to form a 1900 hours QF7 ex SYD for DFW.

QF43 (1650 hours afternoon SYD up to DPS) departed at 1811 hours so arrival will be 2102 hours, 62 late, delaying QF44 back down to SYD.

The 1920 hours SYD - HNL, QF3, is suggested as departing at 2015 with same day arrival 0905 hours, 50 behind.

Friday 31 January's QF12 pushed back in LAX an hour late at 2330. The at gate time for SYD arrival on Sunday 2 looks like 0922 hours, 52 late. 'The 94' ex LAX is worse, with pushback predicted at 0045 on Saturday, 115 late, and MEL Sunday arrival estimated as 1110 hours, 80 minutes behind schedule. If latter forms QF35 (1210 hours to SIN) tomorrow, it will be delayed departing.

QF16, Friday's late night 2320 hours from LAX to BNE is likely to depart at 0100 on Saturday with Sunday arrival around 0850 hours, 95 minutes tardy.

UPDATE: QF7 departed SYD at 1918 (278 minutes late) with same day DFW arrival becoming a suggested 1725 hours, 270 behind. With QF8 timetabld to push back at 1945 hours, there should be a small additional margin for the turnaround. Hopefully it will punctually depart.

QF3 was off blocks at 2028. Expected HNL arrival has been changed a tiny amount from that predicted above to 0912 hours.

 

[Melburnian1]

Saturday 1 February's QF20 departed MNL at 1940 hours, 40 late, arriving SYD on Sunday 2 at 0700 hours, 40 late.

The overnight delayed QF62 from NRT down to BNE arrived at 0537 hours, three minutes short of 24 hours late.

Sunday 2's QF11 is predicted to depart SYD at 1150, 40 minutes behind schedule.

B744 VH-OEH is on QF64, the 1850 hours Saturday JNB redeye to SYD in the sky at 2009. Sunday 2 arrival should be 1631 hours, 56 minutes late.

 

[Quickstatus]

Just a side note:

The A380 serviceable fleet is temporarily reduced by 1 as VH-OQG heads off to DRS for maintenance departing yesterday 1Feb2020

 

[Melburnian1]

In more on 2 February, QF35 is again delayed ex MEL, today by an expected 80 minutes to 1330 with arrival in SIN becoming 1815 hours, 70 minutes tardy.

B744 VH-OEE as QF6031 (1245 hours SYD - HKG - WUH) departed at 1307 hours. Normally I don't record delays under 30 minutes, but this flight is of interest to many.

UPDATE: QF35 (A388 VH-OQJ) departed MEL at 1340 hours, taking off at 1404 hours. It had arrived on the ex-LAX QF94 at 1136, 106 minutes late, explaining the delay. SIN arrival is predicted as 1814, 69 minutes tardy. This is likely to delay QF36 (the 1940 hours) pushback to around 2000 hours, so not a huge delay tonight.

In the previous seven days, QF36 has arrived late on three occasions in MEL: once was a little over half an hour late, another day more than two hours tardy and on a third, more than four hours late. See previous posts.

As at 1400 hours on Sunday 2, MEL may have just switched to single runway operations on the east-west, yet westerly at gusts of up to 32kmh isn't particularly strong. Might the main north-south runway have some debris on it?

Presumably empty B738 VH-VXP is operating QF6117 that took off from BNE at 1124 with MEL arrival suggested as roughly 1427 hours.

 

[Melburnian1]

Later on Sunday 2 February 2020, QF2079 from MQL down to MEL, the 1025 hours mid morning flight did not become airborne until 1443. Q400 VH-QOY is arriving at 1550 hours, 265 minutes behind its timetable.

Right behind it arriving from the east was QF2284 with a far less severe delay, as it's the 1400 hours LST up to ME:L in the sky at 1438, about 25 minutes tardy. Arrival was 1552 hours, 32 late for VH-LQD.

 

[Melburnian1]

A week or so before it is to be permanently cancelled, the Sunday 2 February 2020 SYD to PEK QF107 timetabled to depart at 1335 has been delayed to an expected 1630 hours with arrival at 0030 on Monday 3, 195 minutes late. This will delay tonight's QF108 redeye.

QF51 (1150 hours BNE up to SIN) is mostly punctual, or even early, but today it is delayed until a predicted 1725 with arrival likely in Lion City at 2315 hours late tonight, 325 minutes late.

 

[Melburnian1]

There are many storms in and around SYD as at 1730 hours on Sunday 2 February including one that passed above or very close to the airport a few minutes later.

QF43 is showing on the QF website as having departed punctually at 1650 hours for DPS but as at 1740 it looked to still be at the international terminal. Has the airport been closed for a while (or was it?) A332 VH-EBL is the aircraft.

The 1700 hours SYD down to MEL (QF453) has B738 VH-VXE but did not depart until 1739. At 1750 it had yet to take off so shoud be at least 35 minutes late arriving at its nominated gate in the southern capital. Sister VH-VXF is as luck would have it on identically timd for departure QF540 from SYD up to BNE, but had yet to depart as at 1751 hours, so may be 40 minutes plus tardy upon gate arrival.

UPDATE: QF43 departed SYD 87 minutes late at 1817 hours with suggested DPS arrival at 2132 mid evening, 92 minutes behind. The 2120 hours scheduled redeye back down to SYD, QF44 will be delayed. Aircraft A332 VH-EBL had been in Sydney all day since arriving on the ex-CGK redeye QF42.

 

[Logan^]

Am on QF1, been sat on the tarmac for an hour, storms and apparently now a redundancy issue that engineers need to look at.

 

[Melburnian1]

With the SYD storms, the 2 February already delayed QF107 was further affected, with A332 VH-EBS taking off at 1700 hours for suggested arrival at 0123 hours on Monday 3, 188 minutes behind schedule. This makes it unlikely Qf108 will push back earlier than 0230 hours for the redeye down to SYD.

 

[Melburnian1]

Am on QF1, been sat on the tarmac for an hour, storms and apparently now a redundancy issue that engineers need to look at.

QF's web page indicates that QF1 'departed' at 1732, 32 late and that it will land at 2205 in SIN, barely late, but I cannot see it on FR24 or FlightAware so as per your advice (unless I suddenly have a case of macular degeneration), one assumes you are still on the SYD tarmac. If there are further cogent developments, please let AFFers know through this thread.

QF1586 is one of numerous arrivals in a holding pattern, in its case southwest of SYD, at 1834 hours with this scheduled 1820 arrival (ex HBA) likely to not arrive until at least 1905 hours (B717 VH-YQY.)

 

[Logan^]

QF's web page indicates that QF1 'departed' at 1732, 32 late and that it will land at 2205 in SIN, barely late, but I cannot see it on FR24 or FlightAware so as per your advice (unless I suddenly have a case of macular degeneration), one assumes you are still on the SYD tarmac. If there are further cogent developments, please let AFFers know through this thread.

Still on the tarmac, apparently the No 4 engine needs to be looked at, however because of the storms the engineers have not been able to get out on the ground.

 

[Melburnian1]

Still on the tarmac, apparently the No 4 engine needs to be looked at, however because of the storms the engineers have not been able to get out on the ground.

Logan, welcome to this thread that benefits much from 'live' contributions. Fortunately SYD to SIN is a 'short' sector so the main 'danger' for you is not being able to depart prior to curfew tonight (but no one is trying to put the mozz on you.) Happy travels.

The QF website is even worse as it now claims you departed 15 minutes early from SYD at 1645 hours. I believe you, not it.

FURTHER UPDATE: The QF website now claims QF1 will depart SYD 150 minutes late at 1930 for SIN arrival at about 0055 hours on Monday 3, 155 late.

 

[flychrisfly]

Storms in Sydney this evening so lots of holding for inbounds. They're landing now but there's a backlog. More storms yet to arrive also...

 

[Logan^]

FURTHER UPDATE: The QF website now claims QF1 will depart SYD 150 minutes late at 1930 for SIN arrival at about 0055 hours on Monday 3, 155 late.

Not confident of that... Apparently looking at Engine four now.

 

[jb747]

Not confident of that... Apparently looking at Engine four now.

What, exactly, did they say?

 

[Melburnian1]

What, exactly, did they say?

This article says 'flying on three engines (for an A380) is not preferable:'

Asiana Airlines A380 Loses Single Engine Over The Pacific

simpleflying.com

Is this merely due to it not being 'ideal' (in the unlikely event of a further engine failure) or is it a comment about inefficiency?

Do QFi or other operators allow A380s to depart knowing that one engine is unavailable, or does it not meet the minimum (operable) equipment threshold?

 

[Melburnian1]

Not confident of that... Apparently looking at Engine four now.

Neither is QFi, as departure has been put back again to an estimate of 2030 for SIN arrival at around 0110 hours on Monday 3.

Meanwhile, QF3, the scheduled 1920 hours SYD - HNL is predicted to depart 130 minutes late, also at 2130 hours on 2 February. Arrival should be at 1010 hours same day, 125 minutes tardy, so QF4 (the Monday 3 arrival in SYD) will also not be on time.

SYD (airport) has had 25mm (an inch in the old scale) of rain since 0900 this morning but two thirds has been recorded in the last hour, so heavy. No wonder the engineers couldn't initially assess the engine. As at 2040 it looked to be still bucketing down with more on the way.

 

[Flyerqf]

Everyone was taken off QF1 after 3 hours on board. New departure time 2200. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s delayed overnight.

 

[JessicaTam]

This article says 'flying on three engines (for an A380) is not preferable:'

Asiana Airlines A380 Loses Single Engine Over The Pacific

simpleflying.com

Is this merely due to it not being 'ideal' (in the unlikely event of a further engine failure) or is it a comment about inefficiency?

Do QFi or other operators allow A380s to depart knowing that one engine is unavailable, or does it not meet the minimum (operable) equipment threshold?

You won't find me flying with an airline that thinks it's ok to take off with pax on an aircraft that is one engine down.