What happens to all the grounded aircraft ?

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Mogul

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With he number of aircraft being grounded here in Aus, what actually happens to them ?

Are they just parked at the gates or on the aprons or even Alice Springs with the 737MAX's ?

Are they rotated to fly to them keep in service ?

Maintenance brought forward ?

Will we see an A380 on transcon to keep the cobwebs out ?
 
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Would think Alice Springs will get some love. The major airports have pretty expensive parking fees
 
Would think Alice Springs will get some love. The major airports have pretty expensive parking fees
If only the passenger air fares to/from ASP were at the more reasonable levels.....


Just wandering
Fred
 
I imagine that they will be rotated around a bit (although if most of the wide body fleet is grounded, there might not be much scope for that.) If 2 A380's are still in use, I would think it almost certain they'll be rotated.

Not sure how much maintenance can be brought forward. Certainly the heavy checks seem to be scheduled somewhat in advance. Maybe some engineer type folk can advise

They will be parked where they can be. Maybe some down Avalon way, maybe some is ASP.
 
Related question, what happens to the qualifications of the pilots?

Isn’t there a “currency” requirement, in terms of the minimum number of hours flown in the last x months?
 
With he number of aircraft being grounded here in Aus, what actually happens to them ?

Are they just parked at the gates or on the aprons or even Alice Springs with the 737MAX's ?

Avalon and Alice are the first spots, but beyond that there are a number of RAAF and government fields that could possibly be employed.

Are they rotated to fly to them keep in service ?

I could see them rotating a small subset, but I'd expect most to be idle, just like the Max.

Maintenance brought forward ?

Much of the heavy maintenance is done at overseas centres, and is booked years in advance. So, there is a limited ability to usefully employ the time for such work.

Will we see an A380 on transcon to keep the cobwebs out ?

Doubt it.

Related question, what happens to the qualifications of the pilots?

Isn’t there a “currency” requirement, in terms of the minimum number of hours flown in the last x months?

Currency can be maintained, at least in the shorter term, by rotating the pilots through the sim every 30 days or so. That would increase the sim loadings substantially (as they normally only see an individual every 3 months on average). As flying won't restart all of a sudden, there will probably be a staggered requalifying effort at the other end of this.
 
The major airports have pretty expensive parking fees
Yes they did back in history before 15 March 2020. Would be reasonable to use those empty international gates for something so they at like an airport.

Ferrying aircraft into out of Brisbane they can have the nice new second runway to use.
 
As best I can tell, on the fleets that are being grounded (787, 330, and 380) a small cadre of training people aren't being stood down. Everyone else is. So, currency is unlikely to be maintained.
 
As best I can tell, on the fleets that are being grounded (787, 330, and 380) a small cadre of training people aren't being stood down. Everyone else is. So, currency is unlikely to be maintained.

If the ‘threat’ is exterminated quicker than expected that sounds like it’ll be havoc. Although I suppose every airline will have the same problem.
 
There will be a small skeleton team based in AVV while the aircraft are there. About 2/3 of engineers are being stood down.
 
If the ‘threat’ is exterminated quicker than expected that sounds like it’ll be havoc. Although I suppose every airline will have the same problem.
I don’t believe the threat will be eliminated quickly enough to save the airlines. It’s not just a case of getting your own country clear, but you need somewhere to fly to, and passengers who are willing to fly. My bet is that when this is eventually over, the vast majority of airlines will no longer exist in the form they did only one month ago. Those that are still around, will be shells of their former selves, and almost certainly nationalised. They will be much, much, smaller than they were. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of aircraft will never return to the air.

As for points, and award tickets...ha.
 
a freind of mine has a son that flies with Cathay Pacific, yesterday he said a few things to me
- air freight traffic has increased significantly ( i guess because so many passenger flights cancelled)
- airlines cant pull seats out of grounded aircraft fast enough to keep up with demand
- his son is flying empty passenger plan HK to London just for freight, and complained that he and co-pilot didnt know how to work the kitchen appliances to get their food (no cabin crew)
 
Just reading an article talking about aircraft parking. It stated that Brisbane and Melbourne have both dropped parking fees for the aircraft taken out of service. Sydney, predictably, hasn’t joined them. Brisbane has space for about 100, and Melbourne, 40. You don’t need to keep all of the runways and taxiways open when you have restricted amounts of traffic.

QFs 747 are apparently going to Alice, whilst the 380s will squeezed into QF maintenance areas at Sydney. 737s and 330 at Avalon.
 
It would be funny/sad to see a QF A380 parked at Victorville.
 
Do the VA9xx_ flight numbers indicate positioning flights? I see VA9000 currently operating MEL-PER. Does that mean it'll rest up in PER?

VA9xx_ numbers are used for their freighter network. Not sure they are exclusively for freighters but all those I use are 9xx_ numbers. Eg: VA9563 flies daily MEL-PER 5am scheduled departure.
 
SQ has a few aircraft heading into ASP this morning.

Question for @jb747 if you see this. What fuel load do aircraft get parked with?



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SQ has a few aircraft heading into ASP this morning.

Question for @jb747 if you see this. What fuel load do aircraft get parked with?

Interesting question. I’ve never flown an aircraft into long term storage, but have taken many for what will be long periods of maintenance. On those flights we try to arrive with as little fuel as possible, as all of it will ultimately be drained. I expect the same will be the case with the aircraft at the moment. A 380 might have 10 tonnes on board, and a 747 about 8, if the crews were able to target the load.

Whatever the amount, I’d expect all of it to be drained before they fly again.
 
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