BY JAMES WILKINSON
Qantas is set to resume A380 services between Australia and Los Angeles from Sunday (Jan 16), after flights were suspension following an incident during take-off from Singapore in November last year.
Qantas is resuming A380 services to Los Angeles
The move follows engineering analysis of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines by Qantas and the airline’s consultation with Rolls-Royce, Airbus, European and Australian regulators and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) that resulted in all parties being satisfied the carrier can resume regular Australia-USA services.
Qantas Chief Executive Officer, Alan Joyce, said the decision would see the airline progressively introduce services, starting with flight QF96 from Melbourne to Los Angeles on January 16.
“As always, safety has been our first priority in assessing when and where to bring A380s back into service over the past month,” Joyce said.
“Only when we, our manufacturers and our regulators were completely satisfied that it was safe to begin flying the aircraft again did we resume A380 services, initially on London routes only.
“The decision not to operate Los Angeles services allowed us to gain further operational experience before deploying the A380 on these routes.
“In close consultation with Rolls-Royce, we are now confident that we can begin flying the A380 to and from Los Angeles without any conditions on the use of maximum engine thrust.
“In the meantime, our A380 engine inspection process continues as we gradually restore the aircraft to our international network. We are operating a full international and domestic schedule, using our entire range of aircraft,” he said.
Joyce said for the remainder of January, Qantas would operate 14 Airbus A380 services per week on:
For the remainder of January, Qantas will operate 14 A380 services per week, on the following routes: QF9/10 (Melbourne-Singapore-London) – three services per week; QF11/12 (Sydney-Los Angeles) – four services per week; and QF31/32 (Sydney-Singapore-London) – daily.
From February onwards, Joyce said A380 frequencies on London and Los Angeles routes will be steadily increased as aircraft return to service and new superjumbos join the fleet.
