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Qantas passengers have arrived home after three days stuck in Johannesburg following a maintenance issue on an A380 aircraft.
A recovery flight, QF7064, operated by VH-OQL, landed in Sydney at 5pm on Thursday after the cancellation of flight QF64 on Monday 10 August, sparked by problems with the nosewheel on VH-OQB (pictured) that required further maintenance.
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Flight QF64 returned to the gate shortly after departure, and engineers needed to fly in parts from overseas to fix the issue, leading to the extended delay; VH-OQL was subsequently sourced as a replacement aircraft.
Passengers were refunded their fares for the Johannesburg-Sydney sector and offered Uber transportation from Sydney Airport, as well as their choice of a $200 AUD voucher or 20,000 Qantas points as compensation for the delay.
“On behalf of everyone at Qantas, we sincerely apologise for the significant disruption to your travel plans this week from Johannesburg,” the airline said in an email to passengers seen by the ABC.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding throughout what we know was an exceptionally difficult experience.”
Earlier this year, the Flying Kangaroo had to pull another A380, VH-OQI, from service for urgent maintenance inspections due to potential wing cracking issues; the same A380 was found in 2024 to have flown for almost 300 hours with a tool left inside its engine.
Qantas returned the last of its operational A380s, VH-OQC, to service in December, though the aircraft had to undergo repairs after a wing slat peeled off in mid-air on its first commercial flight following its return.
Qantas is the only Australian airline to operate the A380, and plans to retire the aircraft type in the 2030s, with rumours it is investigating more 787s and A350s as potential replacements.
“We’re in regular contact with aircraft manufacturers as part of our ongoing fleet planning and always update the market when we have something to announce. We currently have no updates or orders to announce,” a Qantas spokesperson told Reuters earlier this year.
Ten of Qantas’ A380s, VH-OQA, VH-OQB, VH-OQC, VH-OQD, VH-OQG, VH-OQH, VH-OQI, VH-OQJ, VH-OQK, and VH-OQL, were returned to service after being placed in long-term storage during COVID-19, while VH-OQE and VH-OQF were scrapped.
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Rod
says:A delay of any kind will irritate most passengers, and this is when the airline concerned can “lose” a passenger’s custom very quickly. The situation is magnified when the scheduled ops are not frequent and or days apart, often/mostly these days the airline is represented by a handling agent as opposed to an “inhouse ” operation and that may very well add to the problem as the agent may not have the resources available to meet the needs of both the situation and the operator concerned. Add to all this the costs involved! – seriously in this situation the passengers’ needs come first, forget about the bean counters the result will be an explainable variance, move on and in the case in question here both the folk involved and QF did a top job!