What QF plane forms QF81 SYD to SIN

[m535607]

Hi I am trying to work out what incoming plane to SYD then forms QF81 especially on Sundays as I have a flight next month. I tried matching gates but I cannot find it. It seems to depart from a gate not normally used for other Asia flights

 

[Quickstatus]

as I have a flight next month

Go into the airline's website and Manage My Booking. Then select seat

See if you can match the seat map with the airline's published seat maps

The A330 has 8 seats across in economy
The B787 has 9 seats across in economy

Even then, note that the operating aircraft on the day is not guaranteed

 

[AIRwin]

It was QF42 today

 

[dajop]

You can use Flightaware to track inbound aircraft, to tell you the last sector the aircraft operated, by clicking the "Track inbound plane" link.

QF81 (QFA81) Qantas Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware

Track Qantas (QF) #81 flight from Sydney to Singapore Changi

flightaware.com

This Sunday was from CGK, last Sunday was from HND. Yesterday was from MNL.

 

[justinbrett]

SYD is the hub so no route routinely connects to it, it could be anything.

 

[SYD]

Hi I am trying to work out what incoming plane to SYD then forms QF81 especially on Sundays as I have a flight next month. I tried matching gates but I cannot find it. It seems to depart from a gate not normally used for other Asia flights

The app will start advising gate allocation a day or two before departure (Subject to change).

Or was there something else you’re trying to work out?

 

[m535607]

Just trying to work out the incoming aircraft that will form QF81 so if the incoming aircraft is late then QF81 will be late. Tried to do this by matching arrival gates of incoming aircraft to QF81 departure gate but on 19/2 there was no match for QF81 gate 10.

 

[AIRwin]

Tried to do this by matching arrival gates of incoming aircraft to QF81 departure gate but on 19/2 there was no match for QF81 gate 10.

Sometimes the aircraft may be towed to the hangar or remote bay to free up the arrival gate for other flights and towed back to a different gate for departure, especially when there is a long turnaround...

 

[milehighclub]

Just trying to work out the incoming aircraft that will form QF81 so if the incoming aircraft is late then QF81 will be late. Tried to do this by matching arrival gates of incoming aircraft to QF81 departure gate but on 19/2 there was no match for QF81 gate 10.

The advantage of flights out of SYD is that they can change an aircrafts rotation. So even if something is late, they might swap aircraft around. So if the QF81 was formed by the QF42, and that was late, they might make the QF26 the QF81 instead. There are other factors that determine where an aircraft does and doesn't go, but in short, and for out of Sydney, it is impossible to determine until the day before.

 

[jpp42]

Just trying to work out the incoming aircraft that will form QF81 so if the incoming aircraft is late then QF81 will be late. Tried to do this by matching arrival gates of incoming aircraft to QF81 departure gate but on 19/2 there was no match for QF81 gate 10.

This isn't how it works at a hub like Sydney. Sure that's how it works at an outstation, like Singapore, but at Sydney a specific arriving aircraft may not be turning into a departing one right away - it may go for maintenance. Some days an arriving aircraft might be "turned" into QF81 and other days not - it depends on many factors. At a hub, the airline also has flexibility to change things at fairly late notice - on a given day, perhaps QF42 was originally planned to turn into QF81, but QF42 had a problem and arrived very late - they might choose to bring a different aircraft from the hangar and depart QF81 on time, to avoid knock-on delays throughout the network. This is very common with domestic flights where there are many 737's available at any given time, not always possible for International but still can happen that there's a spare if maintenance is done early or other flights got cancelled for some reason.

 

[AIRwin]

Sure that's how it works at an outstation, like Singapore

I've noticed that even in Singapore, the aircraft operating QF35/51/81 does not necessarily turn around to QF36/52/82 respectively...

 

[jpp42]

I've noticed that even in Singapore, the aircraft operating QF35/51/81 does not necessarily turn around to QF36/52/82 respectively...

Yep, not the best example, better one would be say, HNL where there's only one flight a day, with Singapore they have some moderate flexibility due to multiple flights. The rotation may be scheduled in order to get the airframe to a different Australian port for maintenance.

 

[jb747]

Yep, not the best example, better one would be say, HNL where there's only one flight a day, with Singapore they have some moderate flexibility due to multiple flights. The rotation may be scheduled in order to get the airframe to a different Australian port for maintenance.

Not necessarily maintenance, though engineering related. At any given time, there's probably quite a few aircraft in the system that have time limited MELs applied, so their flying will have to be organised to ensure that they're somewhere appropriate before the time runs out. That can mean changing their use, as well as other aircraft that have to fill the gaps. To be honest, there's not really as much 'rotation' as people seem to think...aircraft are continually tossed into slots as they are needed.

 

[jpp42]

Not necessarily maintenance, though engineering related. At any given time, there's probably quite a few aircraft in the system that have time limited MELs applied, so their flying will have to be organised to ensure that they're somewhere appropriate before the time runs out. That can mean changing their use, as well as other aircraft that have to fill the gaps. To be honest, there's not really as much 'rotation' as people seem to think...aircraft are continually tossed into slots as they are needed.

I used the term "maintenance" to apply to all types of work on the aircraft to keep it running, generically. Qantas uses the term "engineering" to refer to what in layperson English is simply maintenance. Outside of this world, "engineering" refers to design and/or supervision of construction undertaken by a university educated professional with a bachelor's degree (or higher), a white-collar profession associated with aircraft manufacturers and their suppliers. This is totally different work to the hands-on routine maintenance performed by technicians who work for airlines. This is not to demean the highly skilled work performed by aircraft maintenance technicians ("Aircraft maintenance engineers" in Australia) - they are some of the most highly skilled and diligent blue-collar workers around. It's just an effort to distinguish the two professions which are considerably different in scope, and I find Qantas' use of the word very confusing in this regard.

 

[oz_mark]

I used the term "maintenance" to apply to all types of work on the aircraft to keep it running, generically. Qantas uses the term "engineering" to refer to what in layperson English is simply maintenance. Outside of this world, "engineering" refers to design and/or supervision of construction undertaken by a university educated professional with a bachelor's degree (or higher), a white-collar profession associated with aircraft manufacturers and their suppliers. This is totally different work to the hands-on routine maintenance performed by technicians who work for airlines. This is not to demean the highly skilled work performed by aircraft maintenance technicians ("Aircraft maintenance engineers" in Australia) - they are some of the most highly skilled and diligent blue-collar workers around. It's just an effort to distinguish the two professions which are considerably different in scope, and I find Qantas' use of the word very confusing in this regard.

Pretty sure that 'licensed aircraft engineer' is a CASA term.

 

[jpp42]

Pretty sure that 'licensed aircraft engineer' is a CASA term.

No, the term is Licensed Aviation Maintenance Engineer (LAME) and informally, AME for a non-licensed trainee/helper. The key is the word maintenance is there to distinguish that is the core function, not engineering (in the white-collar sense). The dropping of the term "maintenance" from the description by Qantas and some other Australian airlines is what irks me. Most other English-language countries use "Aircraft Maintenance Technician" for this function.

 

[oz_mark]

No, the term is Licensed Aviation Maintenance Engineer (LAME) and informally, AME for a non-licensed trainee/helper. The key is the word maintenance is there to distinguish that is the core function, not engineering (in the white-collar sense). The dropping of the term "maintenance" from the description by Qantas and some other Australian airlines is what irks me. Most other English-language countries use "Aircraft Maintenance Technician" for this function.

But CASA drop the term 'maintenance' themselves

See for example: Become a licensed aircraft engineer