CBR has handled 747s before - diversions and VIP visits mainly. These have been able to be serviced and handled by equipment on the ground in Canberra. So Qantas saying they didn't have the facilities is a crock... and even if there wasn't a catering truck to handle a 747 (and I know there IS one), couldn't they run stuff up the stairs???
That said, there's no way QF would have landed a 744 in CBR had the aircraft been able to make it to MEL or BNE. They must have been short on fuel or had some other requirement to make it land at CBR.
To my knowledge it's only the 2nd QF 744 at Canberra - a QF2 landed there some years ago one foggy Sydney morning ex BKK, the same day as a UA 744 also lobbed in from LAX.
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