Qantas A380 reliability issues creeping up again?

[Melburnian1]

Saturday 10 January 2026's QF7 (SYD-DFW) is expected to be 235 minutes late in departing at 1800 hours tonight.

 

[vhojm]

Saturday 10 January 2026's QF7 (SYD-DFW) is expected to be 235 minutes late in departing at 1800 hours tonight.

Same plane (VH-OQB) as last nights QF12 which turned back to gate and ended up leaving 4 hours late. it landed at 10am so it had enough time for a turnaround, clearly something still needs to be fixed in Sydney.

 

[Melburnian1]

Same plane (VH-OQB) as last nights QF12 which turned back to gate and ended up leaving 4 hours late. it landed at 10am so it had enough time for a turnaround, clearly something still needs to be fixed in Sydney.

it would be facile to suggest the relatively small number of competitors who operate A380s don't have problems from time to time, but at least to and from Australia despite being thousands of kilometres from their bases, EK, OZ, QR and SQ with their A380s aren't nearly as unpunctual as QFi.

I agree with one other poster who suggested that since QFi placed A380(s) on SYD-JNB and return, overall timekeeping for what's currently a fleet of nine has worsened, not that it was previously especially great. VH-OQC remains stabled in LAX, amazingly.

 

[arrow]

I agree with one other poster who suggested that since QFi placed A380(s) on SYD-JNB and return, overall timekeeping for what's currently a fleet of nine has worsened, not that it was previously especially great. VH-OQC remains stabled in LAX, amazingly.

I wonder if it’s a JNB specific issue (lack of a maintenance presence there, reliance on third party contractors, timing of the JNB flight)

 

[RSD]

it would be facile to suggest the relatively small number of competitors who operate A380s don't have problems from time to time, but at least to and from Australia despite being thousands of kilometres from their bases, EK, OZ, QR and SQ with their A380s aren't nearly as unpunctual as QFi.

BA certainly seem to have their share of problems with A380's, but agree that the ones you mentioned seem to have less problems than QF. I can't help but wonder whether EK, SQ, OZ, QR etc all timetable their A380's to have a bit more time on the ground at their bases between each out and back journey for the engineers to work on them instead of running them ragged with only the occassional day at LAX for the engineers to have a bit of time to work on them.

 

[RSD]

I agree with one other poster who suggested that since QFi placed A380(s) on SYD-JNB and return, overall timekeeping for what's currently a fleet of nine has worsened, not that it was previously especially great.

Before QF put the A380's on the JNB run their A380 punctuality was reasonable, but since starting JNB it has become terrible. It almost seems like starting JNB with the A380 was one of those ideas that was cooked up by sales without consulting with operations and engineering to see if it was feasible, and now they are left with trying to make it work.

 

[Melburnian1]

I wonder if it’s a JNB specific issue (lack of a maintenance presence there, reliance on third party contractors, timing of the JNB flight)

You may well be correct, but my mind was more focused how introducing JNB as an A380 has almost certainly increased the median utilisation per week or month of the QFi A380s. Hence, less available downtime for maintenance or repairs. Though many parts get replaced in line with manufacturer's or regulatory instructions, to make an obvious statement, these aircraft are ageing even though they've been refurbished in AUH, DRS or elsewhere.

Please correct me, but almost all transport equipment (air, rail, ferries, general shipping, trucks and even humble passenger cars) tends to be more difficult to maintain as they age.

Saturday 10 January 2026's QF7 (SYD-DFW) is expected to be 235 minutes late in departing at 1800 hours tonight.

@Flyerqf has kindly informed us in the 'Qantas Delays/Cancellations' thread that this is due to QFi wanting to avoid an en route fuel stop and hence it's waiting for a lower temperature at which to depart. That forecast has become 1845 hours not 1800.

 

[RSD]

I wonder if it’s a JNB specific issue (lack of a maintenance presence there, reliance on third party contractors, timing of the JNB flight)

Probably all of the above, there probably isn't much A380 capability and spare parts there, and from memory the A380 doing SYD-JNB-SYD is timetabled to go straight onto a SYD-LAX with no time allowed for any maintenance or potential problems.

 

[RSD]

Before QF put the A380's on the JNB run their A380 punctuality was reasonable, but since starting JNB it has become terrible. It almost seems like starting JNB with the A380 was one of those ideas that was cooked up by sales without consulting with operations and engineering to see if it was feasible, and now they are left with trying to make it work.

Alternatively, do EK, QR, SQ etc allow extra time between legs so as "A380 problems" are allowed to be fixed without affecting their ontime performance and don't have flow-on effects for days?

 

[arrow]

Before QF put the A380's on the JNB run their A380 punctuality was reasonable, but since starting JNB it has become terrible.

it’s been so noticeable for the US routes such that now if I’m on QF7 or QF11, I leave a day earlier to cater for delays which I don’t when I’m on the QF3.

 

[RSD]

it’s been so noticeable for the US routes such that now if I’m on QF7 or QF11, I leave a day earlier to cater for delays which I don’t when I’m on the QF3.

It has certainly become that way - Qantas's logic is that timing the LAX flights so as they arrive around 6am to enable passengers to catch connecting AA flights has basically become flawed as the almost every day delays mean that people miss their connecting flights.

Someone at Qantas has to stand up and say "this performance is no longer acceptable - we need to change something to fix it"

 

[Melburnian1]

Someone at Qantas has to stand up and say "this performance is no longer acceptable - we need to change something to fix it"

Are these A380s being worked too intensively, as you opined above?

We'd need a LAME or similar to answer.

 

[Melburnian1]

it’s been so noticeable for the US routes such that now if I’m on QF7 or QF11, I leave a day earlier to cater for delays which I don’t when I’m on the QF3.

You have a choice of airlines to most major USA destinations.

The mainland-based North American airlines are not perfect - they have their share of delays - but generally into and out of Oz cancel less often than QFi. Hawaiian and Fiji's airlines are other alternatives.

 

[Saab34]

Many other carriers conduct a greater level of engineering in house and at a larger base, much easier to swap out aircraft, likewise easier to source parts and conduct the work. That all flows down to better reliability. Emirates can probably fix an issue overnight while Qantas would need a week locally.

QF could invest more in local engineering but that’s a choice they have made. Plenty of room in Melbourne to build a new facility, and state governments would often throw cash about.

 

[markis10]

Many other carriers conduct a greater level of engineering in house and at a larger base, much easier to swap out aircraft, likewise easier to source parts and conduct the work. That all flows down to better reliability. Emirates can probably fix an issue overnight while Qantas would need a week locally.

That’s true for EK but not for the others, adding to the list EY, which do QF work in conjunction with LH, both of which have not been mentioned in posts re reliability or lack thereof, a post that is unsupported with any credible data, just heresay.

 

[moa999]

Someone at Qantas has to stand up and say "this performance is no longer acceptable - we need to change something to fix it"

I'm actually very surprised that there haven't been more substantial delays.

Remember Qantas has been down the spare (OQC) for over 30 days now.

 

[Feech La Manna]

That’s true for EK but not for the others, adding to the list EY, which do QF work in conjunction with LH, both of which have not been mentioned in posts re reliability or lack thereof, a post that is unsupported with any credible data, just heresay.

I think EK, EY, QR and SQ all do heavy engineering in house or via their engineering subsidiary?

BA and QF don't.

 

[RSD]

I think EK, EY, QR and SQ all do heavy engineering in house or via their engineering subsidiary?

BA and QF don't.

They probably do, but the heavy engineering isn't the cause of almost daily delays to A380 flights.

 

[Feech La Manna]

They probably do, but the heavy engineering isn't the cause of almost daily delays to A380 flights.

It may help with flexibility of parts, engineering resources etc?

Both BA and QF have issues with 380 reliability, not sure the others do.

 

[vhojm]

I'm sure the JNB rotation is worsening the delays given the shorter turnarounds between QF8/QF12/QF2 landing and QF63 leaving and the same when it comes in as QF64 and then goes out as QF1/QF11 but imo it is more than just JNB that is a problem.

The Melbourne operation is a disaster, QF93 is always 2+ hours later on the two days a week it operates as an A380, regardless of whether QF94 comes in on time.
The LAX operation is equally poor, with QF12 often being very late (4 of the last 7 left 90+ minutes late) and there are no short turnarounds in Los Angeles.

It almost feels like after Covid, Qantas forgot how to operate the A380. Maybe OQC returning was meant to help with these delays but it feels like all of the fleet is suffering constantly.

You then need to consider that the A330 fleet also have major operational meltdowns regularly and the conclusion is that Qantas (more like Qantas customers) is simply paying the price for having poor fleet management. Old planes + tight turnarounds +3-5 years in the desserts has made QFi very unreliable.