QANTAS A.380

[Dennis McLean]

OQL now in DRS landed 20 minutes ago.

[James Smith]

I read in a media report that the QANTAS A380 refurbishment is going to take two months to complete for each aircraft and is due to be fully completed by the end of 2020. OQK, being the first aircraft to have the work done, took 80 days from leaving SYD to returning to SYD but could have had other maintenance work done as well while in DRS.

A further seven and a half aircraft will be able to be refurbished in the two month time cycle, excluding OQK, up to the end of 2020. To achieve the completion schedule QANTAS will need to have two aircraft in for refurbishment at the same time for up to eight months of the year.

The schedule is further impacted with another A380 being required from 4/12/19 to 28/3/20 to operate QF127/128 HKG services and a further one four days pw from 13/12/19 - 26/1/20 to operate the seasonal QF17/18 SYD - LAX - SYD service. QANTAS has also stated that the remaining three A380s to be painted in the silver roo livery will be done in 2020, which will take another six plus weeks. There could be maintenance requirements on top of this, although a number of the A380s have had varying periods of maintenance this year, one for over three months. None of these impacts are factored into my calculations which would increase the time for two aircraft to be refurbished simultaneously.

It will be a busy time for the QANTAS A380s up to the end of 2020.

[Ben W]

Off topic I know, but had my first ever touch and go in OQG Friday morning in Melbourne on QF94. Fairly decent crosswind that morning. Second attempt resulted in a quite heavy touchdown. Off topic but finally scored a touch and go after 500 flights over the last 20 years.

[James Smith]

Ben, was it a touch and go or a go around?

[Ben W]

Touch and go. The mains touched down for about 3 seconds and then they spooled back up and lifted off again.

[James Smith]

OQI returned to SYD overnight as QF6010 arrived at 6:46 following maintenance in AUH. No sign of a replacement as yet.

[Greg Hyde]

Qantas welcomes back first refurbished Airbus A380 into service

Qantas has welcomed back its first Airbus A380 featuring a refurbished cabin including new business class seats, a new lounge on the upper deck and more premium seating.

The A380 VH-OQK, which had been in Dresden, Germany since the middle of July, returned to service on September 30 when it operated the QF 2 from London Heathrow to Sydney via Singapore.

After arriving in Sydney on Wednesday morning, the aircraft was presented to media and invited guests in Hangar 96 at Qantas’s Mascot jet base.

In addition to new business seats that were similar to what was already on Qantas’s Airbus A330 and Boeing 787-9 fleet, the reconfigured A380s also had a higher number of premium seats.

While the total number of seats has been increased by one to 485, the split between the four cabin classes has changed.

First class was unchanged at 14 seats, while the business cabin has been expanded to 70 seats, from 64 in the old configuration.

There was a big increase in premium economy from 35 to 60 seats, while the economy cabin was being cut by 30 seats to 341 seats.

The upper deck has been reconfigured to only business and premium economy cabins, while first and economy will be on the lower deck.

https://australianaviation.com.au/20...-into-service/

[Dennis McLean]

OQJ departed for AUH at 15.27 today as QF6011

[Christopher Campbell]

Has OQL been refurbished? Surely it takes longer than 3 weeks?

OQH has replaced it in Dresden.

[James Smith]

Very interesting, Chris. OQL after only 3 weeks has swapped with OQH in Dresden. After OQK was in Dresden, QANTAS Source said that she was returning after maintenance and reconfiguration. With OQL they have just said, after maintenance in Dresden, so in view of the short time and the Q Source missing comment it looks as though OQL has not been reconfigured. OQJ remains in Abu Dhabi having maintenance.

According to my records, OQD is the only A380 that has not had or is currently having maintenance in either Abu Dhabi or Dresden this year. OQJ remains in Abu Dhabi having maintenance.

Any clarifying input on the refurbishment question would be welcomed. If an A380 is just having the refurbishment how long should this take?