Back from the ‘dead’: Airbus A380s return to Australian skies

After much talk of their demise, Airbus A380s will be reappearing in Australian skies as early as Tuesday.

Emirates has the largest fleet of A380s in the world and is currently adding a premium economy cabin to many of the aircraft.

A Qantas A380 will make its long-awaited return to Australia on Tuesday, touching down in Sydney mid-afternoon in the surest sign yet that the travel recovery is underway.

Flying from Dresden in Germany where the aircraft underwent a landing gear update, the superjumbo will be welcomed into Sydney by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and airline employees.

Early on in the Covid pandemic, Qantas made the decision to mothball its fleet of 12 A380s in the US, and has since announced only 10 will return to service.

The first to make a comeback, VH-OQB Hudson Fysh, will be used for ground and crew refresher training and could even appear on some domestic routes over the Christmas holiday period.

Another A380 will return to Australia in the New Year, with two to be used on Sydney-Los Angeles routes from April.

Mr Joyce was hopeful of then getting in three more A380s by July for Sydney-London services, with a sixth superjumbo to arrive by the end of 2022.

Emirates and Singapore Airlines will also reintroduce the A380 to Australia from December 1, in response to pent-up travel demand and the aircraft’s popularity among passengers.

Emirates Australasia divisional vice-president Barry Brown said bookings on the double-decker aircraft out of Sydney in December were going exceptionally well.

“I was just looking at the loads this morning and they’re up over 400 passengers a flight for December, so people are itching to get out. It’s really good,” Mr Brown said.

It’s a far cry from the pessimistic outlook for the aircraft at the height of the pandemic, with predictions the A380 could become a victim of Covid-19.

Air France took the decision to retire all nine of its A380s, while Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines all reduced their fleet size.

In contrast, Emirates was awaiting the delivery of the final A380 to be produced by Airbus at the end of the month, taking its fleet of those aircraft to 118.

Mr Brown said they remained of the belief the aircraft was a critical part of their fleet, and would be in operation well into the next decade.

“There’s strong pent-up demand for travel and we see that continuing,” he said.

“Just looking at our November and December booking patterns, they’re filling quickly and the A380s with 500 or 600 seats in the two configurations will be a dynamite aircraft for us going forward.”

He said the A380’s public appeal was its greatest asset, describing the aircraft as a “passenger magnet”.

“I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve answered from people asking ‘when are the A380s coming back?’,” Mr Brown said.

“It’s a brilliant aircraft and we’re introducing the premium economy service as well. We will have six aircraft initially with that and they will be on the Sydney-London route from early next year.”