Qantas haven't updated their seat maps for a while so they only show OQH OQK and OQK on their seat map. Already have an ET account? How Long Will It Take To Refurbish Qantas' Entire A380 Fleet? Required fields are marked *. As there are twelve Airbus A380s in the Qantas fleet, there is still a good chance you'll receive the old configuration for the time being. We now have even more details from Executive Traveler on the rollout of the new interiors. The initial reactions to the first refurbished A380 are broadly positive, but when will the project be completed? I always base my international flying provider based on the highest comfort ad services first, hence those flying an A380 to my destination get first byte of my dollars. Please view our advertising policy page for more information. My guess is the fourth A380 wont be sighted until early February at least. It's scheduled to fly tonight from London to Singapore, and the seatmap reflects that (here's the business class seatmap, showing the new 1-2-1 configuration, compared to the old 2-2-2 configuration). Etihad Airways has also said it will likely never fly the A380 again, while Singapore Airlines will retire seven of its A380s. below, then click 'Submit'. Thank you so much Qantas, Alan and staff. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7c0aa9882e88e847 That plane is followed by a Qantas Dreamliner - both bound for Sydney. And I'll be mothballing my QFF card, and firing up the Emirates Skywards instead (or whoever keeps flying the A380). Not to mention the actual volume of space in your "single" seat - storage, proper table, excellent TV, ideal controls etc. Thankfully the remainder of my journey to Europe is on Singapore in PE and home on Qatar in Business. The move suggests it could be among the first of Qantas A380s to return to regular passenger service, after being in storage since March 2020. The A380 is far more spacious and comfortable to fly in than the squeezy Boeing 787 nightmare plane, but it's the now-departed Boeing 747, yes, Queen of the Sky, that had most comfort. On refurbished A380 aircraft, the Premium Economy cabin has 60 seats in a 2-3-2 layout. Even Qatar if they bring theirs back. Exclusive: Qantas takes delivery of new 787 after 2-year delay, RAAF streamlines training for new recruits, AucklandBeijing flights to finally return, Leonardo Australia wins AS9110 certification, Baltik Air takes on Malaysia Airlines on AdelaideKuala Lumpur, Cracks that caused wing to break off biplane were hidden, Qantas A380s was flown from storage at LAX to a facility in Dresden, International borders to open in December, says Qantas. 20 astonishing facts about the A380 superjumbo | CNN Am flying PE MEL-SIN mid October this year. "We're parking the A380sfor at least three years," Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce confirmed to media during a press teleconference following the announcement of a sweepingthree-year 'post-Covid recovery plan'. Same with QF, as soon as you board it feels Australian. Qantas begins preparations to return A380s by April Qantas will reinstate its full First Class offering at the end of this month both on the ground and in the air as post-pandemic international travel steadily. Find the right card for you. The thrice-weekly service departs Sydney as flight . For the first time since then, VH-OQB took to the skies at 1:54pm on 19 August as flight QF6013, and took the 11-hour journey to Dresden Airport in Germany. Our plan was at the end of October, if the international borders were to open up, we could start 22 of the 25 destinations we had pre-COVID with smaller aircraft, smaller premium seats on it. My favourite aircraft as a long haul passenger. Even the non-refurbed Business in the A380 is fine, but the refurb is fabulous! This means there will no longer be a first class product on Qantas until 2023. Prestige and Profit, that's what will deliver a vaccine/'s from a US pharma/'s most likely by end of 2020, let's face it Armstrong walked on the moon 51 years ago. Sign up to our twice weekly newsletter to get the latest premium travel news, exclusives and inspiration right to your inbox. There's nothing much wrong with the new Qantas premium economy seats, apart from that oddball 'cradle' arrangement for the legrest and footrest. Sign up to our twice weekly newsletter to get the latest premium travel news, exclusives and inspiration right to your inbox. Improve earnings, maximize rewards and track progress toward dream trips. Joyce said that "roughly" one A380 will be redone each month. Operating at some of the country's busiest airports, we are dedicated to supporting the daily operational performance of airlines and service providers across our . Qantas to return five A380s to service 'ahead of schedule' Already have an Executive Traveller account? However OQG as mentioned already has been refurbished and so have OQI and OQD. The A380s had begun a refit with Qantas new cabin products less than a year before the grounding. The CEO added that the airline won't dedicate the spruced-up aircraft to one . I get they are a bit tight for space currently at Alice, but thought I read somewhere that they could increase capacity very quickly if required. Qantas are not mucking around getting these A380 back. WA is going to miss out millions of $ in tourism, but McGowan thinks he makes plenty of money anyway from iron ore, which the Chinese no longer want to buy. My problem is that Qantas seriously tries too hard to be Australian when it comes off as unauthentic. The airline notes that it expects to have a further two of the remaining 11 unrefurbished aircraft done and flying by the end of 2019. Even at the basic level there are only four seats wide - 1-2-1, which is so good when you compare there were 10 wide downstairs. A sad day for passengers. In terms of the A380, the forecast is still that demand will not pick up enough to sustain the superjumbo until around 2024. The first of Qantas' refurbished Airbus A380s will begin flying in September, with the remaining 11 A380s in the carrier's fleet set to be overhauled through the end of this year and next. parties. Absolutely no way of climbing over. The CEO added that the airline won't dedicate the spruced-up aircraft to one particular route, so passengers will be "surprised and delighted" when they find themselves sitting in a new business class seat. Qantas' A380 has all-new cabins with plenty of legroom. It actually feels very authentic to me, faults and "she'll be right' attitude and all. How long will it take to refurbish Qantas' entire fleet of twelve A380s? It is too Australian, for customers who are primarily not actually Australian. Qantas opens new Club lounge at Rockhampton airport, See a whole year of Reward Seat Availability on one page at SeatSpy.com, Michelin-starred Yannick Allno to open restaurant at Four Seasons Park Lane, Pan Pacific Orchard to open in Singapore in May 2023, Live life in the fast lane with Avis Preferred, Connect with Business Travelers Worldwide with MeetWiv, Lufthansa operates A380 to Bangkok this winter, Qantas celebrates 25-year partnership with chef Neil Perry, Qantas unveils new domestic economy inflight menus, Qantas reports improved performance in September, Qantas to launch nonstop Auckland-JFK service, To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below. Earlier, in February, the Qantas chief executive said that it was heartbreaking to see the fleet stored in the Mojave Desert and insisted that curfews and expensive airport slots meant flying them will still be profitable. Reopen QF21/22 and SYD-NRT (HND will only accept A380s during the overnight hours, only 1 on the ground at a time and they can't be there during the day slot hours). Seat map. As some other commentators had said in previous forums, the video is more about making us feel good about ourselves but does nothing to attract or gain loyalty with overseas clients, of which those from Asia will prefer Asian based airlines on the basis of in flight service rather than just being patriotic to their own homegrown airlines. All A380s to LAX refurbished?? Cathay Pacific reopens Hong Kongs The Wing Business lounge, Land up to 20% bonus points in Velocitys new transfer promo. Putting in the new seats took too long, are still not on all. Qantas has been planning this refurbishment for a couple of years. With its full-length double deck, the A380 offers almost 6,000 square feet of usable floor space, about 40% more than the second largest airliner, the Boeing 747-8. Sorry but I think you miss the point. The first of the airline's 12 A380s will enter maintenance next month and is set to return to the skies in September. It is also reasonable to factor in a lull over Christmas and the New Year. Check here before booking an award fare. And beyond that, trying to figure out the refurbishment schedule and which plane is going where is speculation and not particularly useful. Qantas resumes scheduled A380 flights between Sydney and Los Angeles on Tuesday, January 11. Looks like QF will scrap PER as a port, whilst its Premier wants to segregate his state from the rest of our Country. Further, as of today there is significant talk that a selection of vaccines will be available within 6-12 months. Currently, Qantas has been operating its A380 fleet on services between Sydney and Los Angeles, offering only Business, Premium Economy and Economy cabins. Because there's more to long term storage than what you mentioned. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. It will be the first Qantas A380 carrying fare-paying passengers since March 2020. Actually my gripe about the current 100 years celebration version of the inflight safety video is that the background music soundtrack is so loud that I have difficulty catching what was being said if I don't already know the content and the subtitles on display (in some versions). Log in below. Just checked the floor plans VH-OQA,B,C,D,E,F,G,I,L ARE showing 14F 64B 35PE 371E, with the Sky bed Layout. Qantas Plans To Reactivate Its Entire Airbus A380 Fleet - Simple Flying (Dave Soda) Qantas has again announced that its flagship Airbus A380s will return to service sooner than previously expected, with the first . Your complete guide to Singapore Airlines WiFi, Tips to top up your energy levels on the road, Five things to look for when buying headphones for running, Gyms closed: Schwarzenegger shares his home workout tips, Get into the holiday swing at Australias top golf resorts, Thailand wants visitors to quarantine at golf resorts, Nine new golf courses you'll want to visit in 2020, Tuscany uncorked: Inside the wine regions renaissance, Bottle shock for wine lovers as Delta moves to canned wine. News. As an engineer the plane is inheritably unstable and placing rotational forces on the wings that no previous 737 has had to encounter. It's completely free and we'll never pass your information on to Now Flying: Qantas' Refurbished A380 - One Mile at a Time Login now. The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. The next two oldest A380s are Hudson Fysh and VH-OQC Paul McGinness, both of which landed at Qantas in December 2008. Well send you an email containing the activation link. Worse for those pax who are not native English speakers. If they give these seats an extra couple of inches then I reckon you'd find the seats are very good expect for that cradle legrest. Alan Joyce says the mighty superjumbo is likely to stay grounded "for at least three years.". Lounge inside Qantas' newly refurbished A380 a game changer - News.com.au A degree of common sense and seasonality makes approximating the delivery schedule roughly feasible, but trying to establish the sequence of aircraft being refurbished is a fools errand. When Qantas began ferrying its 12 A380s to the Mojave Desert for storage last June, many thought it would be the last time wed see the type fly for the Australian airline. Qantas to mothball all Airbus A380s until at least 2023, Qantas will ground its entire flagship Airbus A380 fleet until at least the middle of 2023. as the airline comes to grips with what's expected to be a prolonged downturn in international travel. The airline has already refurbished six; VH-OQD, VH-OQG, VH-OQH, VH-OQI, VH-OQJ, and QH-OQK. Qantas A380 refurb schedule, Executive Traveller is published by Business Travel Media Pty Ltd, a corporate authorised credit representative (#515763) of MGS FINANCIAL PTY LIMITED (#337568). Qantas' A380 business-class cabin currently features a 2-2-2 layout. So we do believe theres a need for that fleet. But if you have any insights, insiders tips or knowledge, wed love to know. The superjumbo had covered 7,641 miles (12,297 kilometers) on this flight. The refresh included installing new Business Class seats and expanding the Premium Economy cabin. We have reconfigured six of them with brand new product onboards. It's the little finer touches that matter, and Qantas lacks sophistication and finess. Despite sending the majority of the airlines A380 fleet to long-term storage in the desert, Joyce has repeatedly stated that the carrier will look to reactivate its entire fleet of A380s when the pandemic subsides. To unlock all Australian Aviation magazine content and again unlimited access to our daily news and features, become a member today. The airline said total revenue loss amounted to $16 billion for the full year due to COVID-related disruptions including prolonged international border closures and multiple waves of domestic border restrictions. The summer school holidays are in full swing and the A380s generally fill right up.