Traffic #385 | Ukraine affects aircraft movements

Qantas announced on 2 May it would go ahead and purchase the 12 specially adapted A350-1000s necessary to start Project Sunrise direct flights from London and New York to Sydney. To mark the purchase, an Airbus-owned A350, F-WMIL msn 059, travelled from the planemaker’s base in Toulouse to Perth on the Saturday prior, before making the final leg to Sydney on the Monday morning, during which it completed a low-level flyover past Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

–

Australia finally opened its borders to international tourists on 21 February after banning their arrival for nearly two years. Qantas’ only operational A380, VH-OQB, serviced the historic flight that departed LAX at 9:02pm on 19 February as flight QF12 and landed in Sydney the next morning at 6:16am.

It marked Australia’s final stage of reopening its borders after previously allowing residents and citizens to fly in November last year, before opening to students, backpackers and skilled migrants in December. The federal government progressively increased travel restrictions from late March 2020 as COVID cases rose.

–

British Airways resumed services on its Kangaroo Route connecting London Heathrow and Sydney via Singapore on 28 March, after halting the route for 719 days due to the pandemic. The first flight, BA15 from London to Singapore, operated by G-ZBKL, departed Heathrow on Sunday, 27 March just after 10:00pm local time. The flight touched down at Singapore’s iconic Changi Airport at 5:58pm local time on Monday, 28 March, after nearly 13 hours in the air. The shorter second leg through to Sydney took off at 8:00pm, before travelling over seven hours, and landing at 6:13am on Tuesday, 29 March, two days after departure from London.

–

Qantas in February changed the flight path of its iconic Kangaroo service between Darwin and London. Its 787-9s now fly through the Middle East and southern Europe, rather than through Russia. It comes soon after a series of tit-for-tat airspace bans, relating to the invasion of Ukraine, saw Russia initially block flights from carriers based in the UK, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic.

The new QF2 route takes an hour longer and the first flight to be affected saw VH-ZNI depart London at 10:05am local time on 27 February, bound for Darwin. Global reciprocal airspace bans began with the UK banning all Russian carriers, and business jets carrying high-profile Russian nationals, from its skies. The move was followed by similar action from Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic before Russia hit back with reciprocal action. Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia on Saturday also said they would ban Russian flights.

–

Qantas passengers flying to London will have the option to layover in Singapore from 19 June using its refurbished A380s. From the same day, the Flying Kangaroo will also reactivate its flights to the British capital via Perth. However, it’s not yet known whether the two new services will spell the end of the current layover in Darwin, which Qantas has repeatedly hinted could remain in some capacity.

–

New Zealand on 13 April finally lifted border restrictions and quarantine requirements for Australians entering the country for the first time since the trans-Tasman bubble was paused in July 2021. The first flight to touch down from Australia following the easing of restrictions was a Qantas Boeing 737, VH-XZI, performing flight QF157 from Melbourne, which departed just after 7:30pm and landed at Auckland International Airport at 12:49am, less than one hour after the border opened. The second arrived just after 6:00am, when an Air New Zealand Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed from Perth, after departing the Western Australia capital at 8:19pm local time as flight NZ1786. New Zealand then reopened its international borders to tourists from dozens of visa-waiver countries on 2 May. 

Regional

A QantasLink Dash 8-400 was struck by lightning shortly after taking off from Brisbane Airport on Sunday 27 February, before landing safely back in Brisbane. The aircraft, VH-QOM, operated by Sunstate Airlines, departed Brisbane around 2:20pm on Sunday afternoon, bound for Longreach as flight QF2534. The aircraft was climbing from FL180 to FL200 when the crew advised that they needed to return to Brisbane airport, after the aircraft was struck by lightning. It came as Brisbane battled against excessive rainfall and ongoing storms, which caused dangerous flooding throughout south-east Queensland.

Heavy metal 

The world’s largest aircraft, a Ukrainian Antonov An-225, was “destroyed” in a Russian attack on an airfield near Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. Dubbed “Mriya”, which means “The Dream” in Ukrainian, the jet was reportedly under repair and routine maintenance at the Antonov company site in Gostomel Airport when it was attacked. “The biggest plane in the world ‘Mriya’ (The Dream) was destroyed by Russian occupants on an airfield near Kyiv,” Ukraine said in a statement via its official Twitter account, confirming its intentions to repair the damaged iconic jet. “We will rebuild the plane. We will fulfil our dream of a strong, free, and democratic Ukraine.”

The An-225 travelled to Australia for the first time in May 2016, when it touched down in Perth, carrying a 135-tonne generator for a resources company. Anticipating massive public interest in the massive aircraft, Perth Airport even erected a dedicated viewing area for the public to see the six-engine behemoth. 

–

Emirates’ flagship A380 returned to Brisbane for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, as the airline ramps up its flight schedule servicing the Queensland capital. Flight EK430, operated by aircraft registration A6-EVC, touched down at Brisbane Airport at 10:57pm on Tuesday, 1 March, following its nearly 14-hour stretch from Dubai. It marked not only the return of the iconic aircraft, but also the start of daily flights connecting Brisbane and Emirates’ hub of Dubai. Prior to the restart, Emirates was operating six times per week into Brisbane, using its fleet of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

Defence

A United States Air Force (USAF) B-2 Spirit stealth bomber touched down in RAAF Base Amberley for the first time, flying to the Queensland base from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The long-range strike platform’s visit supported interoperability training between the USAF’s 509th Bomber Wing and the RAAF’s No. 2 Security Forces Squadron.

The joint force ensured the combat aircraft remained protected throughout the visit, providing constant patrols at Amberley as well as a static guard for the B-2. The B-2 Spirit is billed as a multi-role bomber designed to deploy both conventional and nuclear munitions.

It was the world’s first stealth strategic bomber and continues to serve as both a deterrent and combat force.