Just my armchair CEO opinion on this...
I think QF will keep an eye on the A380's as they are still very young (maybe 2 or 3 airframes would be good, just like when they purchased the extra Boeing 744's VH-OEB,OEC,OED). The extra A380 airframes could be used to service HKG again and possibly other routes (e.g. QF15/16 or QF17/18). This could also speed up the non-refurbished 744's retirement as refurbished 744's on routes such as SYD-HKG or SYD/BNE-LAX can replace non-refurbished 744's routes e.g. (JNB or NRT/HND). It would also be good to have a spare A380 on call just in case if one went tech as we've seen with OQF's "accident" in the hangar the other day which is now affecting QF11/12 ops. If QF were interested in these airframes they would probably lease them rather then purchase them outright as they don't have the capital at the moment.
As much as we all want the 777's IMHO it just won't work out for QF as it'll just add more costs rather the benefits (Maintaining/running a new aircraft type and flight crew training etc).
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