Traffic #400 | Qantas deliveries and Alliance Fokkers

Dramatic false start for final returned Qantas A380

In early December 2025, the last of the 10 remaining Qantas Airbus A380s made its triumphant return to the airline after spending nearly six years in long-term storage in the desert – only to immediately face a slew of in-flight complications amid its first passenger flight.

​VH-OQC, also known as Paul McGuinness, was finally flown home to Australian soil on 3 December 2025, more than 1,950 days after it last took off from Sydney. Like the entire Qantas A380 fleet, -OQC was ferried to the Mojave Desert in mid-2020 for long-term storage. This particular jet was then moved to Abu Dhabi in mid-2021, where it would remain until the airline completed its cabin interior re-fit and facelift, which took place in late 2025.

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