End of an Era? QF ends A380 operations ex MEL 24 October 2026

[Aussie_flyer]

With the plans to bring forward getting rid of the QF A380s it would seem unlikely they would come back to Melbourne for long if at all. Though if QF can’t get new planes as quickly as they currently expect they may have to revise their plans. I would really love to do MEL-LHR on the QF A380 the whole way again, but that now seems extremely unlikely to ever happen again.

Airlines review there plans continually. There's no certainty it won't be back

 

[esseeeayeenn]

No, no implication.
The QF A380 "touted benefits" are now irrelevant as the QF A380 is no longer operating from MEL. Whether they were significant is now a historical discussion.

Noted,

Unless you are planning to fly First Class, there is no significant change.

 

[Saab34]

Probably a few charters planned for next year like every other year. Plenty to see yet.

 

[Quickstatus]

It's not just their main hub. It's all they care about

Other airlines also do not equally serve all the major cities in their country.

BA does not operate international flights from Manchester for example. MAN had 32million passengers last year with lots of international airlines operating there. Why not BA?.

Should BA be called "Heathrow Airlines" ?

BA has many hubs?. Which ones operate international flights or are they just the spoke for the LHR/LGW hub.

AA does not operate international flights out of SLC and lots of other American Cities. Should AA not use "American". ?.

The only change made with respect to Qantas and Melbourne is a change of aircraft from the A380 to A350 - which means no F. QF has been operating without F to a lot of destinations since the 747 was removed from service. I don't see an issue.

 

[dajop]

BA does not operate international flights from Manchester for example. Should BA be called "Heathrow Airlines" ?

It’s not uncommon for people to jokingly refer to BA as “London Airways”.

It does have international flights from airports other than Heathrow, it also has such flights from Gatwick, London City and even Stansted

 

[Quickstatus]

I doubt that anyone who lives in NSW sees the issue.

Referring to F? After all this is the point of this thread - the change in aircraft has meant no more F out of MEL on QF for the foreseeable future until Project Sunrise.

What about those NSW passengers flying to Asia like HKG, HND, SIN (some flights), JFK, CDG, ROM, HNL?

 

[Quickstatus]

It does have international flights from airports other than Heathrow, it also has such flights from Gatwick, London City and even Stansted

As does QF from MEL.
But BA does not operate the A380 from those airports either

 

[Quickstatus]

minimum of 5 hours

Arbitrary number
WSI is not 5 hrs from SYD

BA does not operate A380 from BHX either.

BHX apparently carries 30M passengers in 2025
MAN carries 32M passengers in 2025
MEL 36M passengers in 2025

Does BA operate F class from BHX or MAN?

 

[mbe1510]

It’s not uncommon for people to jokingly refer to BA as “London Airways”.

It does have international flights from airports other than Heathrow, it also has such flights from Gatwick, London City and even Stansted

Think many people seem to think all Australian cities are equal. Sydney is Australia's dominant city and the only "world city" for business, wealth, tourism (both international and domestic). Strategically it's also the best located with Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide all less than 2 hours away by plane.

Qantas will always be Sydney centric because that its main hub and the one city that all cabins can be regularly filled at all times of the year in both directions (Very much like BA and LHR, AF and CDG, AC and Toronto). Suspect Melbourne and other cities will get better international connectivity with the A321XLR.

In many ways Qantas is heading down the Air Canada pathway, which has a large Pacific hub out of Vancouver and Toronto as its fortress city. Montreal has an array international flights but more tailored to its French/Caribbean origins.

 

[dajop]

To be fair to QF when I was travelling a fair bit out of MEL in the noughties IIRC there was basically 3 daily services (other than NZ) - a single SIN/LHR service a single HKG/LHR service, a single LAX service (some times a second service but not daily). There also used to be BKK service but that went away in the early noughties. Now they fly 2x SIN, HKG, CGK, DPS, NRT, LAX and DFW. Supplemented by “group” services (JQ) to SIN, DPS, HKT, BKK, SGN and CMB. Easy to forget where they came from.

For me still not a fan, particularly without day flights from Asia to MEL !

 

[esseeeayeenn]

To be fair to QF when I was travelling a fair bit out of MEL in the noughties IIRC there was basically 3 daily services (other than NZ) - a single SIN/LHR service a single HKG/LHR service, a single LAX service (some times a second service but not daily). There also used to be BKK service but that went away in the early noughties. Now they fly 2x SIN, HKG, CGK, DPS, NRT, LAX and DFW. Supplemented by “group” services (JQ) to SIN, DPS, HKT, BKK, SGN and CMB. Easy to forget where they came from.

For me still not a fan, particularly without day flights from Asia to MEL !

Fair points.
However I don't buy into this "group" concept.
QF & JQ are different airlines, catering to different markets.
That is a deliberate corporate strategy.
When I am looking for flights I only look at QF, then other OW airlines, then EY because the experience is amazing or AF if I am in France.
I would never look at JQ precisely because they are selling a product which they have deliberately pitched to a different type of customer.

 

[dajop]

Fair points.
However I don't buy into this "group" concept.
QF & JQ are different airlines, catering to different markets.
That is a deliberate corporate strategy.
When I am looking for flights I only look at QF, then other OW airlines, then EY because the experience is amazing or AF if I am in France.
I would never look at JQ precisely because they are selling a product which they have deliberately pitched to a different type of customer.

OK even if you take out JQ, QF itself has never served MEL internationally (excluding NZ) as much it has now.

But if talking about Qantas Airways Limited you need to include JQ - which still works for many people, even though not for all of us individually.

IMHO people seem to overreacting to the lack of A380 and lack of F as they did when MEL lacked a LHR through service on a single flight number (which was still doable with a single stop in SIN changing planes there.).

 

[AIRwin]

Now they fly 2x SIN, HKG, CGK, DPS, NRT, LAX and DFW.

And DEL (seasonal?)

 

[TheCollecter]

Airlines review there plans continually. There's no certainty it won't be back

The A380 ain't Arnie - it won't be back

 

[Quickstatus]

Just as a matter of accuracy AF operates international flights out of at least 7 French airports.

Off topic

Sorry, nothing to do with a thread that is about MEL Losing its last regular QF A380 service and with that QF F class out of MEL

AF got rid of their entire fleet of A380 several years ago
And only operates F on some BOEING 777 and then only out of CDG.

 

[Quickstatus]

Anyway back to MEL and loss of A380 and F cabin class.
The airline has quietly moved A380 capacity away from the transpacific routes to the SIN routes so this is of no surprise.
Perhaps F will return when the A350-1000 (project sunrise or non project sunrise) replaces the A380 from 2028.

 

[NM]

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