Summary
- Qantas is working considered one of the longest flights ever flown by an Airbus A380, covering a distance of over 16,000km.
- The A380, registration VH-OQK, had undergone heavy maintenance in Dresden, Germany, before returning to Australia.
- Qantas plans to set latest records with its Projet Sunrise nonstop flights from Sydney to Recent York and London using modified Airbus A350s in 2025.
As that is being written, a Qantas Airbus A380 is winging its approach to Australia on a mammoth 10,000-mile (16,000km) nonstop flight between Dresden in Germany and Sydney. The Superjumbo has been in Germany for heavy maintenance since early November and is because of be safely in a Qantas hangar around 15:10 AEDT (04:10 UTC) on Sunday, December 17.
An epic performance by a much traveled A380
Qantas has declared that this ultra-long-haul flight is considered one of the longest ever flown by an Airbus A380, in order that’s something we are able to look into a little bit bit later. For now, here is how Qantas announced today’s adventure:
The Airbus A380, registration VH-OQK and MSN 063 arrived in Dresden on November 12, although that flight involved a stopover in Singapore, operating as flight QF6021. Before that, it flew regular international services comparable to QF11 from Sydney to Los Angeles and the flagship QF1 from Sydney to London Heathrow (LHR) via Singapore.
In line with data from , the A380 has flown only twice since arriving in Germany, with test flights under the QFA6022 flight number on December 3 and December 15 of unknown duration. On Saturday, it departed Dresden Airport (DRS) at 10:22 as flight QF6022, and because the map shows, it has now entered Australian airspace heading for Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD).
Photo: Vincenzo Pace – Easy Flying
It went into storage in July 2020 and emerged on December 10, 2021, when it flew from Victorville to the Qantas A380 maintenance base at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Its rehabilitation continued on January 30, 2022, when it departed LAX for refurbishment at Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH) within the United Arab Emirates, returning to Sydney via Melbourne on March 3, 2022.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
Just two days later VH-OQK was back in service flying between Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SIN) and Los Angeles and since then has maintained its international duties before heading to Dresden last month. Pre-COVID, Qantas had a fleet of 12 A380s, but that now sits at ten, with listing two of those in storage at Abu Dhabi and VH-OQK in maintenance, although that may soon be on energetic duty.
Weight and balance
Considered one of the intriguing things about ultra-long-haul flying is the balance between what an aircraft can do and the necessity to carry enough passengers to make it profitable. Airbus specifications show that an A380 has a maximum range of 8000 nautical miles (15,000 km), but that is predicated on carrying 545 passengers in a typical four-class configuration.
Given there can be only a few people onboard today’s flight, the A380 is well inside its range to fly nonstop to Sydney from Germany, which can also be why many long-haul airlines operate Boeing 787 Dreamliners or Airbus A350s with premium heavy cabins and much fewer passengers than a medium-haul airline would carry.
Easy Flying recently checked out how Emitares uses its A380s, highlighting the longest routes they operated in August this 12 months. That title goes to the Dubai to Auckland Airport (Recent Zealand) service, which clocks up 8,823 miles (14,200 km) and a lengthy flight of 15-16 hours.
Second on the list is from Dubai to Los Angeles (8,339 miles), followed by Dubai-Houston Intercontinental (8,167 miles) and Dubai-San Francisco (8,103 miles). Qantas goals to set its own records when it launches Projet Sunrise nonstop flights from Sydney to Recent York and London, using its specially modified Airbus A350s in 2025.
Would you wish to fly for greater than 20 hours nonstop? Tell us within the comments.