Qantas Prepares to Resume A380 Flights to Los Angeles

Qantas has said it will resume A380 services between Australia and Los Angeles, commencing with QF93 from Melbourne to Los Angeles on 16 January 2011.

The move follows the grounding of the A380 fleet and continued suspension of A380 flights on the Los Angeles-Australia routes that regularly require the use of maximum engine thrust. The suspension of the Los Angeles-Australia routes was implemented to enable Qantas to monitor the performance of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine.

After extensive engineering analysis and close consultation with Rolls-Royce, Airbus and the European and Australian regulators, Qantas, Rolls-Royce and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority are now satisfied that it is appropriate for Qantas to resume A380 flying on the Los Angeles-Australia routes.

Qantas Chief Executive Officer, Mr Alan Joyce, said the decision would see Qantas continue the progressive reintroduction of A380s to its network.

“As always, safety has been our first priority in assessing when and where to bring A380s back into service over the past month,” Mr 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.”

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.
- QF31/32 (Sydney-Singapore-London): daily.

From February onwards, A380 frequencies on London and Los Angeles routes will be steadily increased as aircraft return to service and new deliveries join the fleet.

Qantas continues to offer 34 return services to Los Angeles each week, on the following schedule:

- QF11/12, QF107/108 (Sydney-Los Angeles): twice daily.
- QF93/94 (Melbourne-Los Angeles): daily.
- QF15/16 (Brisbane-Los Angeles): six per week.
- QF25/26 (Melbourne-Auckland-Los Angeles): daily.

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